Linux Foundation Launches COVID-19 Project to Help Health Authorities Make Apps With Apple's API

[MacRumors]

The Linux Foundation today announced the launch of a new Linux Foundation Public Health Initiative (LFPH) (via TechRepublic) that uses open source technologies including Apple and Google's Exposure Notification API to help public health authorities combat COVID-19.

The LFPH includes Cisco, doc.ai, Geometer, IBM, NearForm, Tencent, and VMWare, and is launching with two exposure notification projects: COVID Shield and COVID Green.

COVID Shield and COVID Green are apps that use the Apple and Google-designed privacy-focused exposure notification API, with the apps rolling out in Canada, Ireland, and some U.S. states.

"To catalyze this open source development, Linux Foundation Public Health is building a global community of leading technology and consulting companies, public health authorities, epidemiologists and other public health specialists, privacy and security experts, and individual developers," said Dan Kohn, LFPH general manager. "While we're excited to launch with two very important open source projects, we think our convening function to enable collaboration to battle this pandemic may be our biggest impact."

COVID Shield, developed by a volunteer team at Shopify, is in the process of being deployed in Canada, while COVID Green was developed by a team at NearForm as part of the Irish Government's response to the pandemic. Both of the apps are being made available to public health authorities around the world to use and customize to create their own contact tracing apps.

Apple released its Exposure Notification API in May 2020 with the launch of iOS 13.5, but the API, designed in partnership with Google, has not yet seen wide adoption. Switzerland, Latvia, Italy, Germany, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, and Denmark have launched contact tracing apps that use the API so far.

Some states like Alabama, North Dakota, and South Carolina are working on a contact tracing app, but no apps using the Apple and Google API have been released in the U.S. so far. Contact tracing is believed to be of value as it is designed to let people know when they've been exposed to COVID-19 so they can quarantine themselves and cut down on the spread of the virus.

Article Link: Linux Foundation Launches COVID-19 Project to Help Health Authorities Make Apps With Apple's API

 

[nutmac]

Let's hope that US states take up on LFPH's offer. When I asked the representative of California governor Gavin Newsom whether contact tracing app is in the works, I was told that they are using several thousand people to do the work instead, using voice calls to notify people.

 

[SoN1NjA]

Is that website using San Francisco? I thought you weren’t allowed to do that?

 

[glowplug]

Contact tracing with mobile devices has been pretty widely panned by health experts, saying the high false positive and false negative rates make it nearly useless.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Contact tracing with mobile devices has been pretty widely panned by health experts, saying imprecision, false positives, and false negatives make it nearly useless.

How would those things be mitigated using people?

 

[AngerDanger]

This gives me the strangest desire to watch The Abyss…

 

[Apple_Robert]

​

This gives me the strangest desire to watch The Abyss…

Reminds me of the Terminator series.

 

[AngerDanger]

Reminds me of the Terminator series.

Fun fact: Industrial Light and Magic did the VFX for both The Abyss and Terminator 2. Despite the CGI face getting (I think) 10 seconds of screen time, it was considered a dry run for the effects they'd use in T2.

 

[Rigby]

Let's hope that US states take up on LFPH's offer. When I asked the representative of California governor Gavin Newsom whether contact tracing app is in the works, I was told that they are using several thousand people to do the work instead, using voice calls to notify people.

This is concerning. They should know that these apps don't replace contact tracing. They only notify users of possible exposures, which can then be a starting point for contact tracing.

 

[bondsbw]

Contact tracing with mobile devices has been pretty widely panned by health experts, saying the high false positive and false negative rates make it nearly useless.

Contact tracing does not produce positives or negatives. Tracing helps to inform people who may have been exposed.

Tests are still necessary.

 

[I7guy]

When this was announced I remember some sentiment about would these APIs be needed in a few months. Who knew?

 

[Pakaku]

Is that website using San Francisco? I thought you weren’t allowed to do that?

Websites like that one don't actually store the font anywhere, exactly for that reason, so they're just referencing as a fontface called "-apple-system" in the website's CSS

Using the System Font in Web Content

On iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, specifying “font-family: -apple-system” allows you to use Apple’s new system font: San Francisco.

webkit.org

 

[nutmac]

This is concerning. They should know that these apps don't replace contact tracing. They only notify users of possible exposures, which can then be a starting point for contact tracing.

There are pros and cons to each approach.

Phone calls can obviously reach more people, as far more people have a phone. But phone call is based on far more limited data and requires more substantial operation cost.

Apps obviously generate far more data, both true and false. But I think this is a good thing. Educating people where their hotspots are is a great reminder to wear masks and practice social distancing. I would love to know where I should practice extra caution.

 

[glowplug]

Contact tracing does not produce positives or negatives. Tracing helps to inform people who may have been exposed.

The exposure API does have a false positve/false negative rate related to reported exposures.

 

[CarlJ]

Contact tracing with mobile devices has been pretty widely panned by health experts, saying the high false positive and false negative rates make it nearly useless.

Please explain what false negatives could possibly come from an app that either sits there silently, or announces, “you may have been exposed to COVID-19 the day before yesterday”.

Not getting a notification is not any sort of certification that you are COVID-free, the app just provides the opportunity to give you a heads-up if you have been exposed.

I can’t see any legit reason for any state/country not deploying this, other than that they‘d have to develop an app - well, here are two pre-built apps being provided in source form to copy - now the development time for a state’s or country’s app can go down massively.

It’s not perfect protection, but then neither is a mask or social distancing. The whole point, like in computer security, is defense in depth. Many smaller steps working together.

 

[Rigby]

There are pros and cons to each approach.

Phone calls can obviously reach more people, as far more people have a phone. But phone call is based on far more limited data and requires more substantial operation cost.

I don't really see them as competing at all. The purpose of contact tracing is to identify and isolate clusters of infected people. The Apple/Google exposure notification system does not really do that, since it does not help to identify the contacts of the person who has been notified. So interviewing people is still necessary. The app really only helps to target testing better and perhaps detect outbreaks earlier.

 

[CarlJ]

When this was announced I remember some sentiment about would these APIs be needed in a few months. Who knew?

I hear it’ll all be over by April. And there’s only like 15 cases in the US and it’ll only go down from there.

 

[I7guy]

I hear it’ll all be over by April. And there’s only like 15 cases in the US and it’ll only go down from there.

Exactly. The concept behind these apis will be relevant for some time to come.

 

[incoherent_1]

Contact tracing with mobile devices has been pretty widely panned by health experts, saying the high false positive and false negative rates make it nearly useless.

It’s worked well for Singapore, who developed their own contact tracing app before the Apple/Google API was nearing completion. And today they have the lowest COVID death rate on earth.

 

[CarlJ]

When I asked the representative of California governor Gavin Newsom whether contact tracing app is in the works, I was told that they are using several thousand people to do the work instead, using voice calls to notify people.

Unfortunately, that’s a bit like saying, “I don’t need seat belts, I’ve got ABS brakes in my car”. They’re both safety equipment, but they aren’t competing - they should both be used.

We need manual contact tracing and exposure notification apps (and masks, and social distancing, and strict limits on large gatherings). They have different strengths - e.g. manual contract tracers can be very thorough, but they can get backlogged, while this lightweight exposure notification system can scale to millions of notifications quite easily, while responding extremely quickly. Manual contract tracers can follow up and provide guidance and ask probing questions, but they can’t find out about places where a person went that they’ve forgotten or are unwilling to admit, while exposure notification apps can notify people who were at those forgotten locations (all without knowing what that place was - merely that people were nearby - and without letting anyone know who those people are). Exposure notification is not a replacement for contact tracing, but it can fill in a lot of holes that contact tracing would miss.

 

[nutmac]

I hear it’ll all be over by April. And there’s only like 15 cases in the US and it’ll only go down from there.

It's going to disappear. This is just a flu anyway, which only kills about 8,000 to 20,000 Americans each year. I doubt we will even come close to exceeding that.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I don't understand this nonsense about Apple and Google requiring governments to make apps. Why didn't Apple and Google just make the one worldwide iOS app and the one worldwide Android app and roll them out themselves?

It seems like a total waste of time on Apple and Google's part - why do 90% of the work if it's completely useless without the last 10%, and insist on having hundreds of governments worldwide do that last 10%?

 

[CarlJ]

I don't understand this nonsense about Apple and Google requiring governments to make apps. Why didn't Apple and Google just make the one worldwide iOS app and the one worldwide Android app and role them out themselves?

It seems like a total waste of time on Apple and Google's part - why do 90% of the work if it's completely useless without the last 10%, and insist on having hundreds of governments worldwide do that last 10%?

Do you get your healthcare from Apple? Is Apple a part of your government and authorized to do in-person COVID-19 testing themselves?

The government needs to be involved, because different governments have different needs and different medical testing organizations.

What Apple and Google could have done (I don’t know if they did or not) would be to provide sample code for an app, that various countries could have customized. Well, we have essentially that now, with these sample apps being released.

 

[Eorlas]

"Tencent" is listed as a participating organization.

I am super far from tinfoil hat wearing, but they are blatantly an extension of the CCP. Nothing good comes of their involvement.

 

[foobarbaz]

Contact tracing with mobile devices has been pretty widely panned by health experts, saying the high false positive and false negative rates make it nearly useless.

So?
False positives only cause one unnecessary test
False negatives are in the same situation as without the app

As long as a non-zero number of people find out about their infection and stop spreading it, they are useful. It's an additive measure, after all. And it takes zero effort and does no damage to the economy.