Covid apps could get a second chance under Biden—but it will take work

"As the Biden administration ramps up, it inherits soaring cases and a muddled vaccine rollout— so it’s reasonable to wonder what else can possibly slow the spread of covid-19. Some strategies in the administration’s covid plan are basics, like calling on people to wear masks, doing more testing, and communicating more clearly. But digital technology gets a nod, too: tucked into a list of promises and plans is a vow to look at state-level contact tracing efforts and scale up what’s working. That could mean building a new national app based on what’s succeeded at the state level, supporting more states in developing their own apps, or some combination of tactics.
National leadership on contact tracing and exposure notification apps would be a big change for the US. In many other countries, national apps rolled out last spring, but in the US, apps emerged unevenly from state health agencies that struggled to cope with the demands of the pandemic and the complexity of tracing technology. And although programmers and health experts agree that exposure notification apps are not enough to box in the virus, renewed attention from the federal government could mean they get a second chance to be part of the broad response to the pandemic..." Lire la suite