Ride-share company Uber has been sharing information about its drivers and passengers with health officials for months. Now the company is promoting This free service worldwide to assist in COVID-19 contact tracking efforts
Company officials say Uber designed a website where government health agencies can easily search his records. Contact trackers can use the information to try to find people who may have been in contact with an infected person.
The site is open to health officials in all the countries where Uber operates. The company says contact trackers can get information in a few hours by searching for a passenger’s name or ride. income. The site too indications Public health officials to advise Uber on actions it could take based on its findings.
Health officials and experts say travel-sharing information can find people outside of the social contacts reported by infected people. Although Uber has provided such data For months, it has not been used in many COVID-19s. Hot spots in the U.S.
The Reuters news agency examined the policies for locating coronavirus contacts in 32 state and local health departments. He found that most of them did not request data from the ride-sharing companies.
Unlike many other countries, the United States does not have a national program to identify contacts of people with coronavirus infections. The World Health Organization rated this effort as critical in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Uber has long provided data to US law enforcement officials in emergencies and criminal investigations, company officials said. Then in 2019, U.S. health departments began searching for company data in an effort to control measles disease.
In the first half of 2020, Uber said it received about 560 requests for data linked to COVID-19, from public health departments in 29 countries. He reported that each request took approximately two hours to process by the company. About 30 percent of requests come from the United States.
I’m Alice Bryant
The Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in this story
promote – v. or make people realize something, like a new product, through advertising
contact tracking – n. The process of identifying people who may have come into contact with an infected person
receipt – n. a paper or electronic note listing the things or services you pay with the full amount paid and prices
Quick – v. make someone do something
data – n. facts or information generally used to calculate, analyze or plan something
access point – n. and area with the highest incidence of something, such as disease
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