Image 'Credit: ABTraceTogether app

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Privacy risks of tracing app are worth it in COVID-19 fight

May 7, 2020 | 4:47 AM

KAMLOOPS — WHEN PREMIER JOHN HORGAN announced Wednesday a four-phased transition toward a semblance of normality, he barely mentioned the importance of contact tracing but it’s something that will be essential to stay ahead of COVID-19.

Contact tracing is simply figuring out who’s involved in the chain of transmission. This involves a lot of sleuthing and paperwork, and it’s slow and laborious.

If we’re to gradually re-open the B.C. economy and social life over the next few months, accelerated tracking is essential. Fortunately, there’s an app for that.

Alberta has already launched one of its own, Newfoundland and Labrador is into it as well, and other provinces are thinking about it. Several countries including Australia, China, Singapore and South Korea are using it, too.

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Dr. Bonnie Henry says B.C. is looking at the technology although, as she says, “everybody and their dog has an app out right now.”

The gist of it is that users put the app onto their mobile phones, and it tracks their movements. When someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, he or she voluntarily reports it to the app. Others using the app will receive an alert if they’ve been in close proximity to the infected person.

It would dramatically improve tracking, yet civil libertarians are sounding alarm bells, raising concerns about privacy and the implications of mass surveillance.

Crises affecting our entire population inevitably result in limitations on our civil rights. We’ve already seen that with this pandemic. But while we must be vigilant, some incursions, and some risks, are a necessity if we’re going to win this war, so let’s suck it up and get with the program. What we really need is not resistance, but national implementation rather than provinces fumbling around with it on their own.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.