Introducing technology that could track people who are supposed to be in self-quarantine due to COVID-19 is “doable but not easy”, according to Greg Michelier, partner of local technology company Think Simple.
Speaking during a virtual press conference to launch the Bahamas Together COVID-19 self-screening tool yesterday, Michelier told reporters the company has been looking into such technology.
Bahamas Together is a new online screening tool intended to help health officials as well as the public better fight the pandemic by indicating where “hotspots” may be and which demographics may be more impacted locally.
The information is based on data entered into the tool by citizens and residents of The Bahamas who answer a series of questions related to COVID-19 and their exposure to it, if any.
When asked if similar technology could be used to assist the government with tracking those who have been directed to self-quarantine, Michelier said: “We’re actually looking into it currently.
“I’m in touch with a tech company that a friend put me in touch with that is proposing something to the New Zealand government. We can also build such an app.
“It would require you to keep your phone on you, et cetera, et cetera. So, it’s only good so long as someone has their phone on them, which is the one major issue.”
Of the 72 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in The Bahamas, several were listed as being in isolation at home.
Up to yesterday, 792 people were listed as being in quarantine.
However, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Pearl McMillan said last week that officials had received word that not everyone who had been asked to quarantine at home was doing so.
Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands told The Nassau Guardian on Wednesday that the government has “to look at more draconian measures” including tracking devices and fines as a result.
But Michelier noted that there may be privacy concerns about such technology.
He claimed that Google and Apple are developing tools using Bluetooth that could be used to track whether someone has been or is in contact with a COVID-19-positive person.
“[If] you have answered that you have been in contact in the last 14 days, or you [currently] are, and you do go out in public, that [technology] will kind of notify people around you that there might be someone that has COVID,” he said.
“But there’s also privacy issues, et cetera. So it’s definitely doable but not an easy task, I’ll say.”
Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) Chairperson Robert Myers also suggested there may be “constitutional issues” with that kind of tracking.
“The reason we stayed out of that environment is because that gets into constitutional issues, too, with regards to freedom of movement and things like that, privacy rules, as Greg alluded to,” said Myers during the press conference.
“So, we just wanted to stay out of that environment because that becomes a whole other scene.”
The Bahamas Together self-screening tool can be accessed at https://ift.tt/2xWoDZl.
The post Quarantine app ‘doable but not easy’ appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/24/quarantine-app-doable-but-not-easy/
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