Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense; I've actually posted the idea a few times (including as an Ask HN) and I was getting fatigued. I absolutely have no int

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense; I've actually posted the idea a few times (including as an Ask HN) and I was getting fatigued. I absolutely have no interest in making money out of this - just potentially saving lives. Reposted: Could a voluntary user-tracking app help reduce the R0 level of the COVID-19 virus? One of the main challenges with this virus is that carriers of the virus become infectious well before they show symptoms. Consequently, they pass on the infection before they can be isolated. Apps such as Google Maps already track users' movements to a high level of precision. A similar app could be created that tracked users' movements and notified people they had interacted with if they got infected. It would work like this: - Users' movements are tracked - Upon developing a fever (etc.) the user notifies the app - The app checks their movements during the estimated period they could have been infectious - Every other user who was in their presence for X minutes gets notified and requested to isolate themselves - Recursively check those users' movements to see if they may have passed on the virus Disadvantages I can think of off the top of my head: - Requires simultaneous voluntary use by a large proportion of a regional population - Possibility of false positives by bad actors (would an occasional false positive be so bad)? I've had this idea checked with a leading epidemiologist, and he was enthusiastic. I see this same or similar idea has been written up as a paper (which I've just submitted as a separate story): https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.08.20032946v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.08.20032946v...