How detection ranges and usage stops impact digital contact tracing effectiveness for COVID-19

Pandl, Konstantin D.; Thiebes, Scott; Schmidt-Kraepelin, Manuel; Sunyaev, Ali

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88768-6

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Our final objective was to identify factors associated with user perceptions and knowledge of the app. Due to concerns over privacy breaches and the risk of surveillance, most digital contact tracing and exposure notification apps worldwide have opted for Bluetooth technology, which is considered much safer [ 26 ], although it may be less effective at accurately identifying high-risk contacts [ 40 ]. However, nearly half of our respondents inaccurately believed that the app uses GPS technology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perspectives on Exposure Notification Apps: A Patient and Citizen Co-Designed Study

Osmanlliu

Paquette

Duarte

et al. 2022

JPM

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Canada deployed a digital exposure notification app (COVID Alert) as a strategy to support manual contact tracing. Our aims are to (1) assess the use, knowledge, and concerns of the COVID Alert app, (2) identify predictors of app downloads, and (3) develop strategies to promote social acceptability. A 36-item questionnaire was co-designed by 12 citizens and patients partnered with 16 academic researchers and was distributed in the province of Québec, Canada, from May 27 to 28 June 2021. Of 959 respondents, 43% had downloaded the app. Messaging from government sources constituted the largest influence on app download. Infrequent social contacts and perceived app inefficacy were the main reasons not to download the app. Cybersecurity, data confidentiality, loss of privacy, and geolocation were the most frequent concerns. Nearly half of the respondents inaccurately believed that the app used geolocation. Most respondents supported citizen involvement in app development. The identified predictors for app uptake included nine characteristics. In conclusion, this project highlights four key themes on how to promote the social acceptability of such tools: (1) improved communication and explanation of key app characteristics, (2) design features that incentivize adoption, (3) inclusive socio-technical features, and (4) upstream public partnership in development and deployment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Perspectives on Exposure Notification Apps: A Patient and Citizen Co-Designed Study

Osmanlliu

Paquette

Duarte

et al. 2022

JPM

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“…Real-world testing of GAEN-based contact tracing Apps has shown they can be more successful than traditional contact tracing methods, presumably due to their ability to identify unknown contacts. 7 , 28 , 29 Nevertheless, it is well recognized that more formal assessments of DCT Apps are now required. 30 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, our study adds to the growing literature on faltering adoption rates and technological challenges associated with the appraisal of COVID-19 contact tracing Apps. 25 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 34 , 37 However, emerging evidence from other countries holds some promise. From the UK, a recently published study estimates several hundred thousand infections were likely prevented by the widely adopted GAEN-based NHS COVID-19 App.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public opinion of the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing App: A national survey

et al. 2022

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Objective This study aims to gather public opinion on the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing (DCT) App, with particular focus on App usage, usability, usefulness, technological issues encountered, and potential changes to the App. Methods A 35-item online questionnaire was deployed for 10 days in October 2020, 3 months after the launch of the Irish DCT App. Results A total of 2889 completed responses were recorded, with 2553 (88%) respondents currently using the App. Although four in five users felt the App is easy to download, is easy to use and looks professional, 615 users (22%) felt it had slowed down their phone, and 757 (28%) felt it had a negative effect on battery life. Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported the App's main function is to aid contact tracing. Inclusion of national COVID-19 trends is a useful ancillary function according to 87% of respondents, and there was an appetite for more granular local data. Overall, 1265 (44%) respondents believed the App is helping the national effort, while 1089 (38%) were unsure. Conclusions DCT Apps may potentially augment traditional contact tracing methods. Despite some reports of negative effects on phone performance, just 7% of users who have tried the App have deleted it. Ancillary functionality, such as up-to-date regional COVID-19, may encourage DCT App use. This study describes general positivity toward the Irish COVID Tracker App among users but also highlights the need for transparency on effectiveness of App-enabled contact tracing and for study of non-users to better establish barriers to use.

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“…Signals pass through walls, so people in different rooms could be unnecessarily flagged as having had contact. The result could be a flood of false positives 20 21…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of Ehteraz digital contact tracing app versus conventional contact tracing in managing the outbreak of COVID-19 in the State of Qatar

Al-Kuwari

Nuaimi²,

Semaan

et al. 2022

BMJ Innov

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IntroductionContact tracing is an integral component of the overall public health strategy for controlling the outbreak of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. In addition to the conventional contact tracing, Qatar has implemented Ehteraz, a proximity-tracing mobile phone App using global positioning system and Bluetooth technologies. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the accuracy of Ehteraz as a contact tracing App based on the WHO contact tracing criteria and compare its effectiveness to the traditional human led case investigation.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using two databases, including Ehteraz proximity data and swab collection and case investigations reports for the same period.Results46.9% of contacts identified by the Ehteraz app did not meet WHO duration and distance criteria. Among the 5650 contacts flagged by Ehteraz during the period, 4973 (88.0%) of contacts did not share any known relation with the index case they are linked to.ConclusionThe study highlighted the inaccuracy of the Ehteraz tool as its technology enables signals passing through walls, so people in different rooms could be unnecessarily flagged as having had contact. Big segments of the population (eg, Children) do not necessarily use smartphones and are not, therefore, flagged by Ehteraz digital contact tracing App. Similarly, Ehteraz rarely flags close contacts identified by human investigation as Bluetooth is usually turned off in a household or at a workplace. These findings highlight that digital contact tracing would be an efficient public health strategy when integrated to and complementing human investigation.

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How detection ranges and usage stops impact digital contact tracing effectiveness for COVID-19

Cited by 19 publications

References 28 publications

Public Perspectives on Exposure Notification Apps: A Patient and Citizen Co-Designed Study

Public Perspectives on Exposure Notification Apps: A Patient and Citizen Co-Designed Study

Public opinion of the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing App: A national survey

Effectiveness of Ehteraz digital contact tracing app versus conventional contact tracing in managing the outbreak of COVID-19 in the State of Qatar

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