Jimenez . Aliyah Jewel P .

Nursing Informatics Lab

BSN -

313 Reflection paper

contact Tracing Apps

Contact tracing or the of identifying people who have been

exposed to infectious disease is
being accelerated
,
process an ,

by data Public health

tracking technologies .
experts claim that contact
tracing , along with the
widespread testing is

for the
needed next phase of the co vid 19
pandemic once the economy reopens and
patient surges slow , according to STAT .

The initiative ,
as they say ,
will help further reduce the
spread of Ovid 19 by identifying individuals who need to remain in

isolation .

Hospitals .
universities .
public health departments and even tech
giants Apple and Google have
began to

roll out and contact

technologies initiatives in
support of
tracing .

Last month Google Apple to help health

. and
partnered agencies track the spread of could 19
using bluetooth technology .

They released
applications ,
now
being widely using in some
parts of Luzon
,
the track
people who have come in contact

with tested for

patients who
positive the novel coronavirus . At Mayo Clinic Clinic ,
a team of more than 230 IT

specialists . clinicians and

engineers built an electronic
system that combines medical records ,
non clinical data and contact

identify employee exposures The toolset which identifies notifies staff at

tracing resources to
digital and COVID 19
-

,
.

within average of 2 hrs of a confirmed case is key to helping flatten the of cases
according
exposures an ,
curve ,

to Laura Bree her ,

MD .

"

Probably
"

,
the major pro
of
developing these
types of
applications clearly is to track cases faster and more

efficiently .
Since we are in a society that is
largely technology
-
based and modernized ,
this
might be the
key .
But

is it not for here

really applicable for all ? It might work for them ,
but it
might work
effectively us
,
vs
meaning
in our country Philippines who still has no clear concrete
plans as to how we will
fight this virus .
The
governments
"
official touts reliable mobile
bodyguard
"
the But
government push to also
the the is
messaging app as a .
use
app
its 74 millions ( not
stirring questions about value The
app is tailored for smartphone use and currently only about every -

data daily basis ) out 109 million Filipinos half of it

one is
using mobile or
using it on a of
approx . . And only a are

leaving 7040 of the population from the purview of the app Moreover the Bluetooth settings of
registered as users ; Gps and a
.

smartphone at all times data

have to be on so that it can automatically update the location and
pickup signals through Bluetooth when
app users

come in contact with each other . Ron Rivest ,

an institute
professor at MIT and lead investigator of the
private Automated contact Tracing
"

( PACT ) The utility of based

said
proximity contact may be limited
that
project even a
smartphone based tracing app by the number
-
-

"
of who have smartphones who download the who have the turned
people ,
app ,
and
app
on .

Secondly ,
I believe that while the
purpose of these
apps
is to
prevent further
spread of the disease ,
tech
companies still have a lot of

work to do to
persuade
the
public that
they are serious about
privacy and
security .
A
public
'
health crisis cannot be a
pretense
'

to
pave our
privacy laws or
legitimize tech companies intrusive data collection about
Filipinos personal lives .
 " "

Lastly ,
and probably the major con that I can see about these
apps is its FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY that
" "

it's to its To be effective apps need to be nearly ubiquitous because their value to users depend on
giving users . ,
,

how other and it stated

many people have downloaded the
app are using regularly ,
as what I on
my
3rd
paragraph .

Further if of contact with the becomes'

, only a small portion people a user comes in are
using the
app ,
platform
will be could
worthless or
potentially harmful because its indication
highly inaccurate and instill a false sense of security .

The risk of infection runs high for a vast

majority of Filipinos who lived in
cramped settings where social distancing distancing is a
luxury ,

toilets and masks and additional

app clearly
are shared ,
sanitizers are an
expense .
And meanwhile , the is not backed by a Cleary
lacks in infection
theory of electronic contact -

tracing and accuracy predicting the risk of . What if you briefly come in contact

infected data ?
with an
person
? How accurately does the Bluetooth pick up When the
app shows that an infected
person is ,
say

within it does not of direction

a 500 meter radius
provide sense
-

, a .
 Doc Ko To ! !

"

The
"

enhanced community quarantine over Luzon and the

pervasive communal fear of contracting COULD 19 have limited
population
'

movement ,
and the effects on Filipinos health seeking behaviors are tangible .

Before this pandemic started , many patients would come

to clinic have of cough

to a two day history dry evaluated or about a headache remedied Now more and more
Filipinos are
limiting
-
.
.

to the
their trips doctor only for emergent and urgent concerns , at least from the
patient 's perspectives .
And for good reason .

have been telemedicine that

As what others may have not known , there
many companies already developing or telehealth
apps
functions before the
pandemic But because distant
as e consultation even this
pandemic happened and it has been a
protocol to be
-
.

to other became used essential and

people ,
these
apps widely as an as
part of the new normal .

From currently Obviously face

my own
perspectives ,
I think this is a nice
app and we have no choice but to
rely on this one .

to face consultation is the best to assess someone 's health status .

but atleast we have this new alternative that we can use
way
to continue our lifestyle and to keep on track .

Hospitals ,
more so
,
have been
focusing to covid cases , our frontliners have been

sacrificing almost their of to

entire lives and their
ways living just help fight this virus . And we know that diseases like

HIV , diabetes ,
dancer ,
and other chronic illnesses also does exist .
Our
problems like limited numbers of hospital facilities

affecting this health

and
manpower are so
majorly public crisis that we are in . E -

consultations are the best

thing we can do

for now , atleast to those who can afford to

purchase new technologies or devices .
This
pandemic also affects
many people 's
So
mental status . this
app can be a
helpful tool to guide and give advices to those
people suffering from anxiety ,
stress and

and other complications . Telehealth 's efficacy isn't that

great
but reality's been
hitting us so hard ,
and it might help us

atleast other kinds

to reduce of
problems .

I that while develop applications that help in health to

just do hope we can
giving continuous services the
public ,
the

also
reality that not all have access to internet and technology is also
something we must think about .
And to develop
to how reach them and reach ALL out
ways as we can .