"In the absence of federal direction, Massachusetts last week unveiled a plan to begin building a contact tracing army"

From the Washington Post, an article on the plan coming together in the absence of one being put together by the Federal government. The MA effort to perform extensive contact tracing is referenced.

"A national plan to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and return Americans to jobs and classrooms is emerging — but not from the White House.

Instead, a collection of governors, former government officials, disease specialists and nonprofits are pursuing a strategy that relies on the three pillars of disease control: Ramp up testing to identify people who are infected. Find everyone they interact with by deploying contact tracing on a scale America has never attempted before. And focus restrictions more narrowly on the infected and their contacts so the rest of society doesn’t have to stay in permanent lockdown.

But there is no evidence yet the White House will pursue such a strategy.

Instead, the president and his top advisers have fixated almost exclusively on plans to reopen the U.S. economy by the end of the month, though they haven’t detailed how they will do so without triggering another outbreak. President Trump has been especially focused on creating a second coronavirus task force aimed at combating the economic ramifications of the virus."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/10/contact-tracing-coronavirus-strategy/

In some countries, the use of mobile apps to help monitor and manage the virus are being used. This is possible for the US, but would require an approach to protect privacy and personal information data more than US companies currently provide for, or some US citizens feel comfortable with.

Commuters wearing masks in Singapore, where authorities have used digital tools to combat the coronavirus. (Catherine Lai/AFP)