contact tracing

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Tracing App Backend Development - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The Dutch government launched a tender for digital technologies to assist with Corona, focusing on privacy-sensitive contact tracing and referencing PEPP-PT.
- Responses are due April 14, 2020, with a demo required by April 18 and potential rollout by April 28, an ambitious timeline.
- The author submitted a proposal with partners including Fox-IT and Intermax for a backend service for querying and submitting infected keys.
- The backend will feature rollback of bad submissions, health care authorization checks, checkpointing, incremental updates, DoS-filtering, and high scalability.
- Code will be open source on GitHub, and the API will be open to support multiple apps, focusing on high performance and geo-redundancy.
- The project complements privacy-preserving protocols like DP-3T or Apple/Google by handling data uploads.
Tracing App Thoughts and Links - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- Countries are considering automated contact tracing apps to manage the COVID-19 outbreak beyond lockdown measures.
- Phone-based proximity detection using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ultrasound can measure contact, but BLE can travel farther than virus particles, causing false alerts.
- Privacy-preserving protocols (e.g., DP-3T, Apple/Google) use anonymous identifiers and daily keys to avoid tracking, but require healthcare authorization for infection reporting.
- Challenges include false positives from neighbors or bus drivers, need for undo functionality, battery drain, and backend trust.
- The app is only part of a broader public health effort; clear messaging is essential to avoid user desensitization to alerts.
Corona: Hoe en waar krijgen we het? Niemand die het weet. - Bert Hubert's writings
2 months ago
- The author blogs about COVID-19, often explaining positive developments and the importance of good ventilation.
- The main complaint is that in the Netherlands, little is known about where and how people get infected, or which groups are most affected, despite GGD and RIVM having relevant data.
- Initially, new infections were traced back to Italy or Austria, but as cases rose, detailed contact tracing stopped.
- RIVM has published some studies (e.g., on schools) and statistics on healthcare workers, but not comprehensive data on infection locations or circumstances.
- Data could inform targeted measures (e.g., banning specific gatherings, improving ventilation) and allow low-risk activities to resume.
- Other countries show patterns: public transport dangerous in London/New York, meat processing plants in the US.
- The author urges release of interim results to guide behavior and measures, and calls for public demand for this information.
- Raw data needs careful statistical analysis to avoid misinterpretation.

contact tracing

Tracing App Backend Development - Bert Hubert's writings

Tracing App Thoughts and Links - Bert Hubert's writings

Corona: Hoe en waar krijgen we het? Niemand die het weet. - Bert Hubert's writings