People With Ties to COVID-19 Victims More Willing to Share Tracing Data: Parks

Consumers are more willing to share their smartphone data for contract tracing if they know someone who has had COVID-19, reported Parks Associates Wednesday. More than 80% of those who know someone infected are willing to share smartphone data, with privacy protections, vs. 65% who don’t. The effectiveness of contact tracing depends on the recall quality of the infected person and the timeliness of tracers’ ability to locate and contact those potentially exposed, said Parks Senior Director Jennifer Kent. Using Bluetooth to detect the distance and duration of interaction, a smartphone-based approach can identify people with whom an infected person may have interacted but doesn't know. It can also make notifications of potential exposure “nearly instantaneous.” In March, 8% of survey respondents knew at least one person who had COVID-19; that jumped to 35% in May. By Wednesday, the U.S. had 7,504,116 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 210,972 deaths, said the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Seventy percent of those with firsthand COVID-19 experience said they’re willing to share smartphone data to track COVID-19; 59% of those with a household member who had the disease would share, said the survey. Just under half who had experienced no symptoms would be willing to share. By mobile operating system, 58% of iPhone users would be willing, 47% of Android users. Age affected willingness to share smartphone data for contract tracing, said the report: 90% of respondents ages 18-24 were willing to share if privacy protections are offered, vs. 63% of those 65 and older. Higher-income households and those with higher levels of education are more likely to share, it said. For more effective digital contact tracing, “consumers must adopt the technology,” said Kent, citing an Oxford University study saying adoption by 15% of the population will result in reduced disease transmission and fewer deaths; adoption by 60% of the population or more yields the biggest public health benefit. To promote wider adoption, Apple and Google rolled out the Exposure Notification Express system Sept. 1, removing the requirement that individuals seek out and download an app from a public health official to participate, Kent noted. But state adoption is “slow,” she said, with only 10 states signed on by mid-September; 25 more expressed interest.