Ex-CDC director on US, COVID-19: 'We are a laggard' Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden on Sunday said the U.S. had been a “laggard” in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, specifically pointing to lack of Zack Budryk TheHill

Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden on Sunday said the U.S. had been a “laggard” in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, specifically pointing to lack of centralized information.

A person in China scans a QR code with a smartphone to register their real name before getting off a bus in Wuhan, China. Zhang Chang/China News Service via Getty Images

The US is rolling out digital contact tracing. How has it been working in other countries?

vox.com - by Shirin Ghaffary - April 18, 2020

If and when lockdown restrictions are lifted in the US, would you agree to let the government anonymously track your interactions with people within a 6-foot radius to control the spread of Covid-19?

That’s an increasingly urgent question as President Trump and state governors debate how and when to safely reopen the US economy — and as technology is being touted as a solution that would help people reenter public life.

And tech giants are stepping up. Last week, Apple and Google announced a plan to turn phones into opt-in Covid-19 tracking machines that would, if all goes as planned, make it easier for health officials to identify and alert people if they’ve been exposed to the virus.