The Dutch COVID-19 Contact Tracing App (the CoronaMelder): Usability Study (Preprint)

Bente, Britt Elise; Klooster, Jan-Willem Jaap Roderick van 't; Schreijer, Maud Annemarie; Berkemeier, Lea; Gend, Joris Elmar van; Slijkhuis, Peter Jan Hendrik; Kelders, Saskia M.; Gemert-Pijnen, Lisette van

doi:10.2196/preprints.27882

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(25 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Considering the small sample size and short timeframe of the pilots, we lacked statistical power to evaluate differences across participant characteristics and therefore did not include this as a study goal. Last, the relative homogeneity of the study sample may limit the generalizability of our findings to other nonuniversity contexts, which may feature differences in behavior, familiarity with technology, and/or attitudes [55].…”

Section: Principal Findings and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot Evaluations of Two Bluetooth Contact Tracing Approaches on a University Campus: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Shelby¹,

Caruthers²,

Kanner³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND Many have proposed the use of Bluetooth technology to help scale up contact tracing for COVID-19. However, much remains unknown about the accuracy of this technology in real-world settings, the attitudes of potential users, and the differences between delivery formats (mobile app vs carriable or wearable devices). OBJECTIVE We pilot tested 2 separate Bluetooth contact tracing technologies on a university campus to evaluate their sensitivity and specificity, and to learn from the experiences of the participants. METHODS We used a convergent mixed methods study design, and participants included graduate students and researchers working on a university campus during June and July 2020. We conducted separate 2-week pilot studies for each Bluetooth technology. The first was for a mobile phone app (“app pilot”), and the second was for a small electronic “tag” (“tag pilot”). Participants validated a list of Bluetooth-identified contacts daily and reported additional close contacts not identified by Bluetooth. We used these data to estimate sensitivity and specificity. Participants completed a postparticipation survey regarding appropriateness, usability, acceptability, and adherence, and provided additional feedback via free text. We used tests of proportions to evaluate differences in survey responses between participants from each pilot, paired t tests to measure differences between compatible survey questions, and qualitative analysis to evaluate the survey’s free-text responses. RESULTS Among 25 participants in the app pilot, 53 contact interactions were identified by Bluetooth and an additional 61 by self-report. Among 17 participants in the tag pilot, 171 contact interactions were identified by Bluetooth and an additional 4 by self-report. The tag had significantly higher sensitivity compared with the app (46/49, 94% vs 35/61, 57%; P<.001), as well as higher specificity (120/126, 95% vs 123/141, 87%; P=.02). Most participants felt that Bluetooth contact tracing was appropriate on campus (26/32, 81%), while significantly fewer participants felt that using other technologies, such as GPS or Wi-Fi, was appropriate (17/31, 55%; P=.02). Most participants preferred technology developed and managed by the university rather than a third party (27/32, 84%) and preferred not to have tracing apps on their personal phones (21/32, 66%), due to “concerns with privacy.” There were no significant differences in self-reported adherence rates across pilots. CONCLUSIONS Convenient and carriable Bluetooth technology may improve tracing efficiency while alleviating privacy concerns by shifting data collection away from personal devices. With accuracy comparable to, and in this case, superior to, mobile phone apps, such approaches may be suitable for workplace or school settings with the ability to purchase and maintain physical devices.

show abstract

Section: Principal Findings and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot Evaluations of Two Bluetooth Contact Tracing Approaches on a University Campus: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Shelby¹,

Caruthers²,

Kanner³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These applications typically reside on mobile devices and track individual contact proximities to warn people about the potential need to be tested and quarantined (Leslie, 2020;Zhongming et al, 2020). Notifications are initiated when someone reports to the app that they have COVID-19 (Bente et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploiting a Contact Tracing App to Attack Neighboring Devices

Fitzgerald,

Mason,

Mulhair

et al. 2023

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The recent pandemic fosters an increasing dependency on various forms of digital communications that support social distancing. To mitigate widespread exposure to COVID, the Louisiana Department of Health's COVID Defense contact tracing application helps users learn about potential exposures to infected individuals. This research investigates the viability of using the Louisiana Department of Health's COVID Defense application symptoms share feature as an attack vector. The primary contribution of this research is an initial assessment of the effective modification and distribution of a packaged JSON file that contains a malicious link. Secondly, it highlights the effectiveness of this attack through email, WIFI direct, and nearby share.

show abstract

The Dutch COVID-19 Contact Tracing App (the CoronaMelder): Usability Study (Preprint)

Cited by 2 publications

References 28 publications

Pilot Evaluations of Two Bluetooth Contact Tracing Approaches on a University Campus: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Pilot Evaluations of Two Bluetooth Contact Tracing Approaches on a University Campus: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Exploiting a Contact Tracing App to Attack Neighboring Devices

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About