Contact tracing is key for smart transit and smarter cities

Source: Smart Cities Dive Published: July 8, 2020

A smartphone is – amongst other things – a collection of sensors that can pinpoint a user’s location and detect the presence of others in the immediate vicinity.

More importantly, nearly everyone owns a smartphone. It’s precisely this ubiquity that make smartphones so useful for contact tracing efforts aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19. Recent research on the spread of the novel coronavirus came to the conclusion that the pandemic can be controlled with mobile apps that can tap into cellphone location data to track the spread of infection and warn those who may have been exposed.

Have you just taken a carefree trip to a supermarket where – unbeknownst to you – 20 of your fellow shoppers had COVID-19? The contact tracing app on your phone will alert you, allowing you to then take necessary next steps such as getting tested or immediately starting a preventive quarantine.

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