News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Can we stop Covid-19 using Bluetooth? by aaron695 on Saturday March 07, 2020 @06:37PM (#22515042)
Unless you love fascism this is a train wreck of awful.

It's also full of incorrect statements.

This is not true. The medical community does not agree with this for many diseases and many levels of "non-negligible virus threat"

> Every responsible human being should be interested in knowing if he or she presents a non-negligible virus threat to family, friends, colleagues and thus – ultimately – society in general.

Re:Can we stop Covid-19 using Bluetooth? by brookish on Sunday March 08, 2020 @12:16AM (#22516469)
Wanted to chime in. We currently OEM a product to Purell (GOJO) on exactly this concept. Albeit additional hardware is required, we have been extremely successful locating staff and monitoring of dispensers with BLE.

Our goal has been to prevent the spread of infection in hospitals by monitoring hand hygiene compliance.

‘https://www.gojo.com/en/Newsroom/Press-Releases/2019/GOJO-Ex...

Re:Can we stop Covid-19 using Bluetooth? by redis_mlc on Sunday March 08, 2020 @05:56AM (#22517255)
I read the article and largely agree with aaron965 on this.

There's a number of problems with saying "every responsible human being should be interested in knowing ...":

1) does knowing make you legally or criminally responsible for spreading the virus, as in the case of early AIDS patients?

2) Being exposed doesn't mean you'll get sick. So what to do next with the info you met somebody who is in the database?

3) In most Western countries, citizens can afford health care. However, in the USA and other developing nations, affording a hospital is not an option. So what's the point?

The article presents an interesting idea, but separating policy and technology concerns when it comes to healthcare is really not a great idea.

For now I think the traditional methods of dealing with seasonal flu make the most sense: offer information in the press and make affordable shots available.