COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US) (5 Viewers)

[KiwiSaint]

As to contact tracing - the federal government here has asked Australians to download a COVID19 app which keeps track of the user's movements and then enables the government to work out when the user may have come into contact with an infected person. So far about 5-6 million people have downloaded it and signed up.
I am always a bit apprehensive about the collection/security of data with respect to initiatives like this, but I guess Facebook, Apple and Google already have access to this information if they wanted it. You've only got to check your "System Services > Significant Locations" data to know your personal iPhone is perpetually recording where you are (and with greater precision as I understand it).

I am not sure such an initiative would ever fly in the US given the skepticism with which the government is viewed among certain segments of the population, but it seems like a better plan than requiring business owners to write down the names of people who enter their store.

I am loathe to let anyone...government, employer, etc. know what I'm doing and where I'm doing it. However, for the greater good of the public, I downloaded the app to facilitate tracing. When things go back to semi-normal, I can delete the app and go back to my private, hermit ways! I'm not sure being traced or having to write your name in a business log is worth getting your panties in a wad. There are a lot more serious issues to be upset and concerned about.

 

[Taurus]

I think a lot of the LaToya hate over her handling of this has been overblown. But now she wants businesses to keep customer logs of everyone who enters...and that is so far over the line that she can't even see the line any more. What the Fork!?

Contact tracing.
Useless if you don't have an abundance of testing, but it's part of the formula successfully used elsewhere.

 

[DaveXA]

Y’all realize that businesses already do this. The groceries with loyalty cards track every item you purchase and tie that to your phone number. If there is a recall on a product, then they can contact you to inform you of the recall. In a public health emergency, no grocery is refusing to turnover contact info to the government.

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 or 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.

 

[Eeyore]

One of my coworkers who has COVID-19 was on the phone with one of my crewmates tonight.

In the last ten years this guy has been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, given 2 months to live, dealt with the treatment, chemo, etc. He still suffers seizures on a regular basis to this day, and he's diabetic.

He said that covid is worse than anything that he has ever been through. He's about mentally broken. He's past 14 days and still suffering. He said that there's nothing that doesn't hurt and, more often than not, he's ready for it to end no matter how.

 

[Eeyore]

If you think that a store keeping your name for contact tracing is invasive then you won't want to look at your timeline on google maps. They keep a record of everywhere you go.

 

[DaveXA]

If you think that a store keeping your name for contact tracing is invasive then you won't want to look at your timeline on google maps. They keep a record of everywhere you go.

Not if you turn it off. Which can be tricky to do. Or simply leave your phone at home. Which I actually do on occasion. It's actually nice to take a walk or a drive to the store without the phone every now and then.

 

[Goatman Saint]

I am loathe to let anyone...government, employer, etc. know what I'm doing and where I'm doing it. However, for the greater good of the public, I downloaded the app to facilitate tracing. When things go back to semi-normal, I can delete the app and go back to my private, hermit ways! I'm not sure being traced or having to write your name in a business log is worth getting your panties in a wad. There are a lot more serious issues to be upset and concerned about.

Use an android based phone? Have any google products? Have Facebook products? If so, don’t worry about it. They can already tell when you went to the restroom, your favorite food, more than likely what you had for dinner, your entire friend circle etc. all the app is doing is asking for your permission to do something with the data they are already collecting.

But as my daughter says who would know these things says. They don’t care who kiwisaint who lives on 123 koala bear lane is. You’re just a randomized data point. They use the history and tracking to suggest things to purchase based on your previous purchases and trend history. They follow you when you travel to suggest gas, food and sites to visit. But as far as you they don’t care.

Now Facebook is a creepy company and my daughter has nothing to do with them. They do actively listen and eavesdrop.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Not if you turn it off. Which can be tricky to do. Or simply leave your phone at home. Which I actually do on occasion. It's actually nice to take a walk or a drive to the store without the phone every now and then.

Shhhh they still have it even if you don’t grant them permission. Google is up front with the fact they will break the law, and pay what minuscule fines to them they have to pay because the data you provide is worth more than the fine. No country is going to fine them enough to hurt and everyone knows it. They will do a public slap on the wrist, but they don’t stop. Besides, one of the bigger users of google data, besides google are governments and political organizations.

 

[WhoDatPhan78]

Other safety equipment, let's say steel-toe boots, are one thing. You can't really get around those and take protect your feet by wrapping an old t-shirt around your foot. But come on, if an employer is requiring a face covering because we're in a forking pandemic, then grab an old t-shirt and do it. It's really not that difficult. Anybody arguing about this is just doing it for argument's sake.

People worry about stay at home orders trampling their rights, but don’t bat an eye over employee’s rights.

 

[N.O.Bronco]

An uptick is expected. The point of a lockdown is not to prevent that. Or have we forgotten? Even those who managed the ICUs, who will not speak of the horror they attended to, are saying that the goal of the stay at home orders have been accomplished and that it is time to move on to living again.

Like I mentioned to you the other day, it is not just simply gaining hospital capacity though. Not sure where this sense comes from? I guess the emphasis in the media? But that is simply one pillar. Perhaps the most popular and most crucial first step because it was the most pressing, but by no means all that matters. At least according to the experts, economic and scientific.

Without a sustained drop in cases(almost every major expert plan uses 14 days of a major and continual sustained decline in cases), to go hand in hand with a robust testing and tracing system that won’t be overwhelmed by significantly high case loads, all of which are mentioned as the foundation of every major expert strategy I have come across, from the Harvard Working Group, the CDC and White House guidelines, The American Enterprise Institute or The Center For American Progress. All you are doing without that crucial step is playing Russian Roulette with people’s lives by reopening when you have no mechanism to control the spread of the anticipated resurgence.

 

[St. Geezy]

US infection rate rising outside New York as states open up

Take the New York metropolitan area’s progress against the coronavirus out of the equation and the numbers show the rest of the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction, with the known infection rate rising even as states move to lift their lockdowns, an Associated Press analysis found Tuesday.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Not if you turn it off. Which can be tricky to do. Or simply leave your phone at home. Which I actually do on occasion. It's actually nice to take a walk or a drive to the store without the phone every now and then.

AP Exclusive: Google tracks your movements, like it or not

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.

apnews.com

 

[WhoDatPhan78]

An uptick is expected. The point of a lockdown is not to prevent that. Or have we forgotten? Even those who managed the ICUs, who will not speak of the horror they attended to, are saying that the goal of the stay at home orders have been accomplished and that it is time to move on to living again.

What makes you think we are past the point of overwhelming the health care system?

 

[Rickboy]

Not if you turn it off. Which can be tricky to do. Or simply leave your phone at home. Which I actually do on occasion. It's actually nice to take a walk or a drive to the store without the phone every now and then.

hahahahaha, you think we can’t track you.. that’s cute.

But more seriously, you’d have to leave your phone at home or turn it off and put it in a Faraday cage PERMANENTLY. You’re tracked whether you like it or not.

Online, from your personal PC, you perhaps have some options if you use a VPN but even then there are ways to track you.

 

[gavinj]

So if a business wants my name and number, I’m cool just saying, “Oh no need, I have my phone in my pocket.”

That’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten here.