, Columnist
Apps to Track Infections Can Speed Return to Normal Life
There’s a way to take people’s temperatures remotely without violating anyone’s privacy.
Singapore's contact-tracing phone app.
Photographer: Catherine Lai/AFP/Getty Images
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Do you use the Weather Channel App or GasBuddy? Great, you could be helping the government track the spread of Covid-19.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local governments, have started receiving information mapping the movement of people based on mobile-advertising data collected from cellphone locations. It’s becoming clear that reopening the economy will require some amount of disease tracking, and increased surveillance may need to compensate for the slow rollout of test availability.