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COVID‐Apps: Misdirecting Public Health Attention in a Pandemic
Author(s) -
Erikson Susan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
global policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1758-5899
pISSN - 1758-5880
DOI - 10.1111/1758-5899.12888
Subject(s) - pandemic , public health , covid-19 , isolation (microbiology) , phone , telehealth , business , directive , investment (military) , health care , internet privacy , medicine , public relations , economic growth , disease , political science , telemedicine , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics , computer science , law , pathology , philosophy , linguistics , biology , programming language , politics , microbiology and biotechnology
When there is no vaccine for a disease, ‘Test, Trace, Treat/Isolate’ is the public health go‐to directive. During the COVID‐19 pandemic, mobile phone apps are designed to improve on this. But COVID‐apps have not been effective as a public health tool. Countries spend millions to develop them, yet they have been shown to have terrible return on investment. This commentary explores why COVID‐apps are generally championed and provides three brief case studies (Germany, Sierra Leone, Canada) of non‐app public health success. In conclusion, I argue that we need to get our public health care priorities straight: Better and more testing; increased investment in manual contact tracing and treatments; hospitalization when necessary; and wrap‐around care – assistance with groceries, cleaning, child‐ or eldercare responsibilities, telehealth doctor appointment hookups – for sick people in home isolation.