COVID-19 Tracking and Control Measures

Concurrent Session Block 1: 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. ET Wednesday, September 16

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Presentations

Contact Tracing, Intrastate and Interstate Quarantine, and Isolation
Contact tracing, quarantine, and isolation are core communicable disease control measures used by public health departments as part of a comprehensive case ascertainment and management strategy. To date, their implementation as part of U.S. response efforts at the national, state, and local levels has been confounded by the scale of the COVID-19 outbreak; lack of a systemic infectious disease response; insufficient and fragmented funding streams; low levels of public accountability; and concerns about the impact of such efforts on individual privacy, liberty, and travel rights, as well as the financial and personal costs that may arise out of a positive diagnosis. Discussion will include initiatives designed to make more effective use of these disease control measures in response to the challenges presented by the current pandemic response in the U.S.

  • Ross D. Silverman, JD, MPH, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Indiana University

Surveillance, Privacy, and App Tracking
Over the last several months, global innovators have developed an array of “smart” technology protocols and applications aimed at tracking, tracing and containing the spread of COVID-19. This session will provide an explanation of how digital COVID-19 surveillance applications work, assess their effectiveness from a public health perspective and note the legal and policy issues that they implicate. Proposals aimed at maximizing the public health benefits of COVID-19 surveillance technology while minimizing its inherent and conceivable threats to privacy, civil liberties, and vulnerable populations will also be presented.

  • Jennifer D. Oliva, JD, MBA, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law