I want to give a shout out to exposure notifications, the API Apple and Google created at the beginning of the pandemic. Well scoped. In close collaboration with domain experts. Privacy protecting. Measurably helped, maybe not as much as hoped, but still. And now being responsibly shut down, as promised.
We should praise folks when tech is done right. I want to see more of this responsible deployment of tech.
@ben @evan The ZOE project in the UK shows that self reported tests still provide good data. The UK NHS app was altered late in the day to allow self reporting of OTC LFTs.
What I'd really like to understand is why the Google-Apple API was limited to one regional health authority. And separate but related, what the server side component is. It looks from the outside like we could have had a competitive marketplace for decentralised UI apps all interoperating via the API. But maybe not.
@ben @evan Mainly it seems really sad that worldwide, the API is being abandoned, when #covidisnotover
And finally, what potential is there for the same code to be used for other highly infectious (airborne) diseases? Like Flu, RSV, Norovirus.
Waste water monitoring is a data provider, could be even greater. It is privacy respecting. Measurable data.
The biggest problem is what to look for.
Scientists recently discovered thousands of "new viruses" -- thousands, in baby poop.
The discoverers are calling it a "virome" after the popularization of biome (see yogurt ads).
Many of the found viruses are recognizable, the majority are bacteriophages.
Astounding enough, but its taken too many decades to notice.
There were waste water monitoring in the US and Canada
On the biological margin....
https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-unknown-viruses-discovered-in-baby-poo-why-this-is-not-necessarily-a-bad-thing-204419
Ben Adida
Evan Prodromou
Final Round Player 😷🇪🇺🍸
Kevin Russell