Contact tracing gets more and more ‘contactless’

You’ve likely seen the queues of people beside the entrance to malls and supermarkets in the early weeks of the lifting of the Enhanced Community Quarantine. These are customers lining up to jot down their names and contact details on small pieces of paper before going in. 

The process, crude and unreliable as it looks (with pens to be shared by all users!), is an elementary form of contact tracing. The handwritten information will presumably be encoded later by the said establishment into a database of visitors to be contacted in case an infection occurs in its premises so the virus can easily be contained. 

Inevitably, it’s quickly due for an upgrade, and various technologies are already in place to make it all more efficient, more reliable, and much safer for all. 

QR Codes.  Instead of letting customers line up for pen and paper, establishments are adopting the QR (or Quick Response) Code system for contactless transmission. In fact, many local government units, including Valenzuela City and Pasay City, have come up with ordinances directing all citizens to present and scan their QR Codes upon entering any enclosed indoor establishment in their areas.  

These cities, among others, have come up with their respective tracing apps that provide unique codes for each individual and establishment once they register. And everyone is required to register. Strictly, No QR Codes, No Entry. 

The Deputy implementer of the National Task Force on COVID-19, Mr. Vince Dizon, is supporting the use of QR Codes everywhere, -- in malls, banks, restaurants and even public transportation units like public buses and railway transit stations. 

Dizon said this contactless system will help everyone veer away from the manual recording of information that could possibly cause further virus transmission, thus providing a safer means for everyone to go around their favorite destinations. 

StaySafePH. This is the government’s official contact tracing app that the public can download for free from Google Play or the App Store and use in all kinds of smartphones. Once registered, users are given a glimpse of COVID-19 cases within a particular vicinity. It also comes with a scanner for QR codes of establishments to facilitate contactless tracing. 

As QR codes become more prevalent all over the metropolis and other cities and provinces nationwide, StaySafePH will become a greater repository of individuals’ information and health-related concerns. The one-time registration is easy since testing czar Dizon states that those entering a mall, for example, can take a picture of or scan the QR code located by the entrance and they will automatically be redirected to StaySafe to key-in their personal details. 

Dizon assures that data entered into the application will only be accessed by the government, manned by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

He calls on more businesses, especially large corporations, to use the StaySafe app for contact tracing. SM Prime Holdings, Inc., Robinsons Malls, Filinvest Development Corp., and McDonald’s are some of the early large adopters of this program. 

McDonald’s Philippines says that the use of StaySafe.PH app is a safer, more comprehensive contact tracing tool not just for its customers, but also for its employees. It is part of the company’s M Safe program that embodies its commitment towards safety. 

Since the early stages of the lockdown, local developers have certainly been very active in developing innovative apps to fight COVID-19.  All these initiatives have made the idea of contact tracing -- long used by health authorities to combat communicable diseases -- to enter our mainstream consciousness and become part of our daily lives.