Uber Pushes Its Contact Tracing to Health Departments
2020-07-27
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1Ride-sharing company Uber has been quietly sharing information about its drivers and passengers with health officials for months.
2Now, the company is promoting this free service around the world to help in COVID-19 contact tracing efforts.
3Company officials say Uber designed a website where government health agencies can easily search its records.
4Contact tracers can use the information to try to find people who may have come in contact with an infected individual.
5The site is open to health officials in all the countries where Uber operates.
6The company says contact tracers can get information within a few hours by searching a passenger's name or trip receipts.
7The site also prompts public health officials to advise Uber on actions it might take based on their findings.
8Health officials and experts say ride-sharing information can find people outside the social contacts reported by infected persons.
9Though Uber has provided such data for months now, it has not been put to use in many COVID-19 hotspots in the United States.
10Reuters news agency examined coronavirus contact tracing policies in 32 state and local health departments.
11It found that most of them did not request data from ride-sharing companies.
12Unlike many other countries, the United States has no national program to identify the contacts of people with coronavirus infections.
13The World Health Organization has called such an effort critical in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
14The U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not answer Reuters' requests for comment.
15Uber has long provided data to U.S. law enforcement officials in emergencies and criminal investigations, companies officials said.
16Then in 2019, U.S. health departments began seeking company data in an effort to control the disease measles.
17In the first half of 2020, Uber said it received around 560 data requests linked to COVID-19, from public health departments in 29 countries.
18It reported that each request took about two hours for the company to process.
19About 30 percent of the requests came from the United States.
20I'm Alice Bryant.
1Ride-sharing company Uber has been quietly sharing information about its drivers and passengers with health officials for months. Now, the company is promoting this free service around the world to help in COVID-19 contact tracing efforts. 2Company officials say Uber designed a website where government health agencies can easily search its records. Contact tracers can use the information to try to find people who may have come in contact with an infected individual. 3The site is open to health officials in all the countries where Uber operates. The company says contact tracers can get information within a few hours by searching a passenger's name or trip receipts. The site also prompts public health officials to advise Uber on actions it might take based on their findings. 4Health officials and experts say ride-sharing information can find people outside the social contacts reported by infected persons. Though Uber has provided such data for months now, it has not been put to use in many COVID-19 hotspots in the United States. 5Reuters news agency examined coronavirus contact tracing policies in 32 state and local health departments. It found that most of them did not request data from ride-sharing companies. 6Unlike many other countries, the United States has no national program to identify the contacts of people with coronavirus infections. The World Health Organization has called such an effort critical in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. 7The U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not answer Reuters' requests for comment. 8Uber has long provided data to U.S. law enforcement officials in emergencies and criminal investigations, companies officials said. Then in 2019, U.S. health departments began seeking company data in an effort to control the disease measles. 9In the first half of 2020, Uber said it received around 560 data requests linked to COVID-19, from public health departments in 29 countries. It reported that each request took about two hours for the company to process. About 30 percent of the requests came from the United States. 10I'm Alice Bryant. 11Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. 12________________________________________________________________ 13Words in This Story 14promote - v. o make people aware of something, such as a new product, through advertising 15contact tracing - n. the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person 16receipt - n. a paper or electronic note on which the things or services that you pay for are listed with the total amount paid and the prices 17prompt - v. to cause someone to do something 18data - n. facts or information used usually to calculate, analyze, or plan something 19hotspot - n. and area of higher incidence of something, such as disease