Apple? Google? Feh! The perils of going it alone on a contact-tracing app

Announcing the National Pharmaceutical Congress Spring 2020 Webinar: "After This Rude Interruption: What the Life Sciences Will Look Like After the Covid Crisis"  Wed., May 20, 11 a.m. to noon (EDT.) Panel discussion of thought-leaders from the Canadian Life Sciences and physician communities to discuss and determine the way forward. Faculty includes: Wendy Adams, Galderma Canada; Peter Brenders, Kontollo Health (lead panellist); Dr. Wayne P. Gulliver, Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador; Robin Hunter, Malinckrodt; Richard Lajoie, Bausch Health; Mitch Shannon, Chronicle Companies (host.) Registration is free but strictly limited to 100 delegates. (Overflow viewing will be live-streamed to YouTube.) Register now at http://tiny.cc/NPC-Spring

May 7, 2020 -- Today’s instalment of the Daily CurveFlattener comes to you from Etobicoke, Ont., where Editorial Director Allan Ryan is keeping the lights on at Chronicle HQ.

Singapore built its own contact tracing app, TraceTogether, without the benefit of the technology being jointly developed by Google and Apple. Australia and South Korea based their own tracing apps on the Singapore program. But the U.K. has taken an entirely different approach by building a proprietary Covid-19 contact tracing app. This U.K. experience illustrates some of the issues a one-off app might encounter.



Envisioned as a single database managed by the National Health Service (NHS), a pilot version was rolled out this week on the Isle of Wight to rather a cool reception. One issue is that the NHS has now proposed sharing some of the information collected with other public health organizations, contravening their original pledge to keep any and all information collected private and anonymous. Also, privacy watchdogs are loudly warning that the app may create new avenues for surveillance by the state. The U.K. version requires users to download the app and needs Bluetooth to connect with nearby devices, but both Google and Apple restrict how apps can use Bluetooth. That was a consequence of the targeted advertising problems encountered a few years ago.

In Canada's province of Alberta, a contact-tracing app based on the Singapore model is under study. Reports say that ABTraceTogether has flaws that make it awkward to use on Apple devices. As in the U.K., Apple’s built-in privacy settings restrict how apps can access Bluetooth. But as of today, Alberta’s Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw says the app has been downloaded 103,000 times.

COVID CHRONICLE 05/07/2020 

• During the Covid-19 pandemic, misinformation about medical research has been abundant, and sometimes downright dangerous. Yale University is offering an online course called Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend is Wrong, designed to help people evaluate the trustworthiness of scientific information. At last count, almost 20,000 people had signed up. The course is free to audit.
• Described, inaccurately, as ‘Tinder for clinical trials’, Dr. Ramy Saleh of Montreal’s McGill University Health Centre has created a website to help match Covid-19 patients with clinical trials across Canada. The site has compiled, by province, trials in which patients might be eligible to participate, and researchers are also being encouraged to add trials to the list. The patient profiles are shared with a team of researchers, who will contact them directly if they match the criteria for one of the trials.
• Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia are training dogs to differentiate between samples from people who are Covid-19 positive and those who are negative. Research has shown that some people with Covid-19 remain asymptomatic, yet remain vectors for the disease. Dogs trained to detect the virus could help detect these asymptomatic carriers, while other kinds of Covid-19 remain imperfect or in short supply. According to the researchers, the dogs, when trained, could evaluate 250 people per hour.

STORIES CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY
Assistant editor Cory Perla is compiling a specialty page on the dermatologic effects of Covid-19. Watch for it in the upcoming issue of The Chronicle of Skin & Allergy.

RIGHT NOW WE ARE LISTENING TO... 

Gabba gabba hey. The Ramones. Need I say more? Always heralds a peaceful night’s rest, especially using headphones. This reader’s poll conducted a few years ago by Rolling Stone magazine ranks the group’s albums.

RIGHT NOW WE ARE READING...

What It’s Like to Be a Bird, by David Allen Sibley. The ornithologist and illustrator, the author of many bird guides, takes a unique approach to his latest book and aims for a different understanding of what common birds in North America are really up to. The veteran bird scholar writes: “A bird's experience is far richer, complex, and 'thoughtful' than I'd imagined." Fascinating.


TONIGHT WE ARE COOKING...
One benefit to regularly spending weekends in Ontario’s Niagara Region has to be the fresh produce on offer at the fruit stands. In addition to the established vendors throughout Niagara, many farmers are now selling their produce by the side of the road, since the traditional local open-air markets have been shuttered due to Covid-19. I picked up some tomatoes and cucumbers (yes, hothouse-grown at this time of year but still local) that, mixed with some greens and a dollop or two of cottage cheese will be tonight’s reward.


HOW IS YOUR WEEK GOING?
Please make use of the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener, to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues.


That's it for today. Stay in touch, stay safe and enjoy your week. Publisher Mitch Shannon will be covering your news tomorrow.