Contact tracing: Let the private sector lead

As state and local restrictions begin to relax, the essential questions for many people are remarkably similar to what we asked in March. What will work? How can I protect myself, my family, and others?

Certainly, government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are crucial. Yet it is self-defeating to turn to government agencies in all matters, even matters of security and public health information. Instead, we must enlist as many people as possible to generate information needed to regain our footing and find solutions.

Contact tracing provides timely, personalized information when an individual’s risk of infection has increased. It is a system to identify, find, and quarantine anyone who has been in contact with a contagious person. Technology-enabled contact tracing could diminish waves of uncertainty and unify hundreds of millions of people around shared objectives.

Today, 70% of people in the United States own a smartphone, and that connectivity can improve protection against the coronavirus for all of us. But only if they choose to participate and trust the source of information.

Enter private enterprise to organize a response to a critical emergent demand.

Read the full article on The Washington Examiner.