Majority of Americans are not interested or cannot use an "contact tracing" app

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Image: The Washington Post

Contact tracing apps are made to make it an easier job for governments to track infections and also to alert people of whether they came in contact with an infected person, Apple and Google collaboratively made a model that can be followed in developing these contact tracing apps by governments or universities.

But a poll conducted by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement found that most of the Americans are not willing or not able to use a contact-tracing app. This is mainly because of the lack of trust in big tech companies which in the past have faced many privacy allegations.

According to the poll, 

- approximately 1 in 6 Americans do not have smartphones, just over half of those aged 65 or older saying that they have a smartphone (53 percent). Rates are even lower for those 75 and older.

- 82% percent Americans own a smartphone, among them the willingness to use the app is split in half 

-59% of smartphone users would be comfortable to use the app if they test positive for COVID-19 to alert others

This unwillingness in using the app comes from the lack of trust in tech companies as Tom Melaniff, 56, an elementary school teacher said that he would not use a contact tracing app that is made by a tech company but said that "it might be a different story" if the app was developed by major universities with a good reputation but "tech companies, no way."

Likewise, people wouldn't trust tech companies as much as they would trust public health agencies and universities, as the poll suggests,

- 57% of users have trust in public health agencies

-  56% of users have trust in universities

-  47% of users have trust in health insurance companies

-  43% of users trust in tech companies like Google and Apple

Among Americans, 41% say that they have a smartphone and are willing to use the contact tracing app but Oxford University researchers suggest that at least 60% of Americans should use the Infection tracing apps to stop the viral spread.

Apple and Google have said that they delivered the first elements of the software for the developers that are working with public health authorities and said that it would depend on local health agencies to develop apps and alert citizens to use them.

The Post-U. Md. poll suggested that tech companies, university researchers, and public health authorities who are developing these apps that they need public education campaigns to increase the usage of contact tracing apps.

Because a poll published by Kaiser Family Foundation found that 2 out of every 3 Americans are willing when they are told that this technology will assist in opening schools and businesses and help revive the national economy but fewer than 3 in 10 are willing to use the app if there is a “chance the data could be hacked.”