Outpacing the Virus: Digital Response to Containing the Spread of COVID-19 while Mitigating Privacy Risks

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There is a growing consensus that we must use a combined strategy of medical and technological tools to provide us with response at a scale that can outpace the speed and proliferation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A process of identifying exposed individuals who have come into contact with diagnosed individuals, called “contact tracing,” has been shown to effectively enable suppression of new cases of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Important concerns around protecting patient’s confidentiality and civil liberties, and lack of familiarity with available privacy-protecting technologies, have both led to suboptimal privacy implementations and hindered adoption.