It's time to start tracking the people who are gathering to protest staying at home orders. Tracking & contact tracing is one of the ways other countries control the spread. We can start with these people, the #MichiganMorons. They're in public, so they have no expectation of privacy. They aren't wearing masks, so the facial recognition software will work. They chose to risk their health when they traveled and meet in groups, but when they went home they risked the health of others who are unaware of their protest. All of those people might be exposed without their consent.
If these protesters don't want their face being seen they can wear a mask! (I really would like it if that would be their response to facial recognition being used on them because that would be a win for public health!)
The general public should be able to find out who these people are for multiple reasons. First so we can keep OURSELVES away from THEM if they live in our state. Second, so people in other states can be prepared. New York and other states can do a good job on social distancing but if these #FloridaMorons travel and nobody knows who they are new outbreaks can happen.
We already have the tools to track these people. Individuals can use social media to find these people. If government is involved they can use the state's driver license databases to help track them better. What other ways can the states use the data? In other countries they gave the information to employers so that those employees could be told to stay at home.
Take Singapore. The country attracted praise early in the pandemic for its initial success at curbing the spread of the virus. In March, the country released TraceTogether, an app that uses Bluetooth technology to help public health officials do contact tracing. Much like the Apple-Google tool, Singapore’s app automated the process of tracking down every person a given person came into contact within a two-week period. It works by allowing users to log in the app if they test positive for Covid-19 and the tool then anonymously notifies everyone they’ve recently seen.
Yes, there are privacy concerns with this kind of surveillance. The tools being created by Google and Apple will be paying attention to privacy concerns. But until we have a vaccine--and as long as people aren't following the rules for social distancing, staying home or wearing masks--we need to track and trace them.
These people have a blatant disregard for the health of the community. They are a public health threat. It seems only fitting that the people who hate the government the most and care about their fellow citizens the least should be the first entrants in a national COVID virus tracking database.
