On June 25, GSL Director Steven Hoffman was quoted in a Global News article discussing the launch of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App (COVID-ALERT) in Ontario later this week. The app will notify users based on a number of criteria, including if they were within two metres of a person who tests positive for the virus and if that contact was over an extended period of time.
In the article, Hoffman argues that these digital tracing solutions are not meant to be a panacea and that global tracing efforts are needed to best map who has been exposed where: “Ultimately all of our efforts have to be about reducing the risk, as opposed to eliminating it, because there’s no way of eliminating it entirely.”
Talking about the concern that contact tracing would stop at the border, Hoffman explained: “Contact tracing is best used when we’re trying to contain an outbreak, but there are more blunt measures, like the 14-day quarantine, if they’re at greater chance of catching the virus, such as if they return from outside the country. The chain of transmission gets stopped by adhering to the 14-day quarantine order.”
Read the full article here.
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