COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)

DaveXA said

I think data collection on buying patterns and purchase history, I can live with, but idea of real-time location tracking is problematic and i think really blurs the lines of privacy laws. I don't care what people do on the streets in in their bedrooms as long as it's not a threat to public or safety. I understand contract tracing can help, but I think we're well past that, and won't be truly effective until the number of active cases is quite small.

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I'm a lot more concerned by apps that would allow the government to trace where you are at all times than having to write a name and phone number down on a list at a store. Writing your name on a list doesn't give real time data. It gives them data about where you were during on 24 hour time period many days after you were there. I'd have a big issue with it in normal times, but there aren't normal times.

As far as the issue of quite small, the number of cases in Orleans is quite small so it might actually be effective here. Moreover, one part of Phase One of the White House/CDC plan requires Contact Tracing. I'm not sure there is a better way to do it. And the simple process of writing your name and number down (and you could choose to lie) seems to be a pretty narrowly tailored way to do it without resorting to Apps that trace your location in real time on a daily basis.

I mean if people want to restart the economy and move into Phase One and then Phase Two as quickly as possible some sacrifices have to be made, not only in terms of lives, but also in terms of you individual privacy. And frankly, writing your name and number on a piece of paper at a store is a lot less of a sacrifice to make than those who will die because we decided that allowing people to make a living was worth an increase in deaths.

So, I guess take your pick. Keep the economy closed or be willing to live with very small intrusions into your privacy and inconveniences.