STEVEN FRIEDMAN: Debate on tracing app sidelines issue of beating Covid-19
Organised business should have been debating how to ensure testing and tracing are effective instead of lobbying for end to restrictions
It is hard to fight Covid-19 when your debates ignore the real issue. The past few days highlighted again how the national debate on Covid-19 focuses on a side issue. This may be why our case numbers and deaths still equal or exceed those of the rest of the continent combined. It is also why organised business and others who have pressed for the opening of the economy ignore the issue, which will decide when economic life really begins to revive.
The debate centres on an app that is meant to help health authorities stem infections. People who download it are told whether they have been in contact with anyone else who has it who has tested positive for Covid-19. This has prompted a predictable debate between those who insist the app is a sinister government plan to enslave us by tracking our movements, and those who see it as a crucial public health measure. The liberty lobby seems to have no problem with the fact that smartphones already track our movements. But what is most ...
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