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The coronavirus is very contagious. But not everyone who gets infected becomes a super spreader right away. Epidemiologists estimate that only about 10 percent of those infected with corona cause 80 percent of new infections. There are some that are very contagious. But depending on the situation, for example during an event in closed rooms, they can infect a large number of people at once, leading to so-called clusters of new infections. The best example of this: the event in the rose garden of the US White House, in which not only the president of the United States, Donald Trump, but also half of his team were infected.
Now, the creators of the Corona warning app have a simmering new job, as it became known on Friday. “NotifyMe” is meant to target precisely these groups. The principle behind it: Anyone at an event with a large gathering of people can register using the QR code. If later it turns out that not only snacks but also the coronavirus were transmitted on the occasion, there is a message.
Because if there is a super-spreader in place, the risk of infection is higher for everyone else. An advantage of the new NotifyMe app would be that contact tracing in particular would no longer have to laboriously contact each individual attendee of an event. One click would be enough and everyone is informed. Similar apps are already available locally, but only to make it easier for operators to maintain contact lists – contact tracing takes over the effective warning.
BAG is not involved
According to the developers, the NotifyMe application should be available in the application stores in the second half of November. The creators are the same people who developed the Corona warning app, including EPFL scientist Marcel Salathé and developer Ubique. It is unclear if and how the new app will interact with the warning app. As in the warning app, all data will be anonymized and only stored locally.
A combination with the earlier Swiss Covid warning app could be tricky. Swiss Covid is an official publication of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG). And there is a separate legal basis for this, which stipulates absolute voluntariness: no one can be discriminated against if they do not want to use the application. But if the operators of a pub set NotifyMe as a condition for you to be allowed into their restaurant or bar, that would be legally sensible. As the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) told “Watson,” he has “no active role” in the new project. But one is aware of it. (gbl)
