Digital Contact Tracing for COVID-19: A Primer for Policymakers

This working paper is intended as a guide for policymakers considering the use of digital contact tracing solutions for Covid-19. The authors, including Rhema Vaithianathan and Nina Anchugina, use a simple graphical model of infection transmissions to illustrate why COVID-19 is particularly challenging to manage with traditional manual contact tracing. They find that digital contact tracing solutions for COVID-19 must offer exceptional speed and achieve high take-up rates to be useful. The paper discusses the importance of social licence for take-up, and explains how a commitment to impact evaluation can help build trust.

Citation:
Vaithianathan, R., Ryan, M., Anchugina, N., Selvey, L., Dare, T., & Brown, A. (2020). Digital Contact Tracing for Covid-19: A Primer for Policymakers (Working Paper). Centre for Social Data Analytics: Auckland University of Technology & The University of Queensland.

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