House Commerce GOP Presses GAO for Contact-Tracing Study

The GAO should do a tech assessment of COVID-19 contact tracing apps, wrote House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and committee Republicans Friday. “Challenges that may reduce the effectiveness of these technologies include low adoption rates, testing delays, privacy concerns, and interoperability of the apps,” wrote Walden, Health Subcommittee ranking member Michael Burgess, R-Texas, and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. “We are also interested in the relationship between testing and state contact tracing programs.” They requested information about successful efforts by foreign countries. The agency didn’t comment.