How many times have we heard the tune “Shoppers Drug Mart employee test positive for Covid-19 in the Junction”? What are we supposed to do with this information other than sharing it on Facebook hoping your friends who shop at that location are notified. But even if they are informed questions are raised. Which employee tested positive? Because if it was an employee solely moving boxes in storage the clients may not have much to worry about, but if it was someone working as cashier many clients would have been exposed. In summary, the problem with this scenario is that it is aspirational contact tracing. And it fails to answer a key question: how did that employee contract the virus?
https://dailyhive.com/toronto/shoppers-drug-mart-covid-19-december-18
Ideally, everyone who was in the building between the hours the employee worked should be notified of potential exposure. The Covid Alert app could help, but it would require that the employee who tested positive and those exposed have the app running on their smartphones. And since its adoption is voluntary and requires a newer smartphone not everyone has it. Hence this remarkable app should be seen as one of many ways to combat the pandemic and not a silver bullet.
As a Canadian who grew up abroad and has backpacked around our beautiful globe, I tend to ask myself: what else are other countries doing to solve this problem, which by now has affected every corner of the earth.
Quick Response (QR) codes are effectively being used for contact tracing by businesses in Asia, Europe, and Oceania:
https://esnetwork.ca/briefings/qr-codes-as-an-approach-to-contact-tracing-for-covid-19/
On the local scene, a Canadian company has developed a QR code contact tracing solution to help businesses:
Based on the above study, QR code contact tracing solutions work best when managed by service providers for a specific transaction, for example, a movie night. So when you enter the theatre you would present your tickets and scan a QR code with your smartphone. Cineplex will not get your contact details, all they will see is a randomly generated identification code e.g. UserElVez has entered the theatre. Employees would scan the QR code when their shift begins. So, If Employee007 who later tests positive was working when UserElVez was in the theatre UserElVez would be automatically and confidentially notified of potential exposure. Naturally, all clients and employees who were in the theatre at the same time as Employee007 would also be notified. Since the movie is 2 hours long the system would automatically know when UserElVez left the building.
Finding out how Employee007 contracted Covid might be best left to contact tracing professionals working for local public health units. However, notifying who may have been exposed by Employee007 at work to Covid can be automatically done by QR code systems, thus allowing contact tracers who are already overworked to focus on other critical matters.
QR code contact tracing is far superior to pen and paper which restaurants in T.O. were using in the summer for contact tracing since pen and paper can easily lead to privacy breaches. It is positive to see many local businesses adopt QR code solutions, but to be truly effective widespread adoption is needed. Here is a situation where local governments can take the lead and encourage the use of QR code contact tracing.
High Park Engineer 