Most businesses or other public spaces request your information upon entry for COVID-19 contact tracing. Contact tracing is a process designed to identify, monitor, and educate individuals, in the event that they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. The widespread method adopted by many businesses involves manually collecting personal information from customers upon entry. This contact tracing method proves to be tedious and time-consuming, and not very effective since the information is not instantly made available—not to mention the headaches contact tracing causes to those whose job it is to notify all the contacts who were potentially exposed to COVID-19.
The Qualms of Contact Tracing
Certain employees in local, state, and federal health departments are easily swamped with work related to contact tracing. Generally, contact tracing begins with an investigator who receives a lab report that includes the number of positive coronavirus tests. From there, the investigator is required to contact all those who have tested positive. The investigator will advise the infected person to isolate and request that they provide as much information as possible about their recent history in terms of the places they visited.
Next, after compiling a list of the potentially exposed, a contact tracer then reaches out to those people or places. And then the notifications continue to trickle down to others that may have possibly been exposed. Yes, this method of contact tracing can become a huge annoyance and create more uncertainty for everyone involved. It doesn’t help that the number of positive cases continues to increase—we continue to hear about new records being passed for the number of deaths and positive cases in the U.S. To be brief, the contact tracing investigators have their work cut out for them.
As pandemic restrictions loosen and people are eager to gather with others from beyond their own households, the risk of exposure grows. During full lockdowns, a person who tested positive may have only exposed a few people to the virus. This is changing as the number of people going out in public spaces increases. Staying at home may not be a long-term feasible option for some if they are required to go back to work or school. Thankfully, there is a viable solution for preventing the ineffective setup of manual contact tracing.
A Virtual Handshake is the New Firm Handshake
Long gone are the days of the handshake. Once considered the hallmark for a good first impression, introductory handshakes to strangers are officially a thing of the past, thanks to the pandemic. However, that does not mean handshakes are incapable of evolving. Specifically, the COVID Precheck Citizen app has developed a creative way to combine contact tracing with making an introduction. As most of us have our devices with us at all times, we can pull up the app and have our information documented and verified immediately. It saves time for everyone involved.
The COVID Precheck Citizen app contains a feature called Virtual Handshake that is intended for others in proximity to be aware of the status of an individual’s health in relation to coronavirus. This feature is particularly useful for smaller meetings and get-togethers. The idea is to give attendees peace of mind knowing that everyone in the room does not have symptoms or has not come in close contact with someone who tested positive. Businesses are also capable of verifying if their employees have COVID Precheck by scanning the QR code on the employee’s phone instead of using Virtual Handshake.
The Virtual Handshake feature is initiated by those wanting to ensure their safety and the safety of others around them. Of course, privacy concerns are legitimate to encourage the widespread use of the app. User participation is optional, and those who do participate can rest assured that their information will remain private and that no interaction is stored on the service.
The manual process of contact tracking no longer needs to be a nuisance with an app like COVID Precheck. Visit our website to find out more about the COVID Precheck’s Virtual Handshake feature for a convenient way to safely introduce yourself by letting others know that you are healthy.
