Smart phone contact tracing required?

We were in Italy recently, no requirement for tracing by App, though I did see where some app was available...but it was not very well advertised. Most museums and some restaurants will take your name and an email or phone number, presumably for the purpose of contact tracing. My impression was that it was mainly for your own safety and information, if you were exposed, you get tested.

Other countries have also developed apps that can show proximity to others and potential infections, but I have not heard of any country mandating use of the apps.

I have not seen anything about scores of people being rounded up and locked away for casual exposure, that you would hear about.

However, yes, if you were to test positive, then you quarantine. If you are traveling with family or a close group, and someone tests positive, you also get to quarantine until a negative test gives assurances you are not going to become positive.

If risk of quarantine or testing positive is a non-starter...then stay home, is my advice.

I haven't heard of any such requirement in Europe. AFAIK, the only country that has anything similar is Japan.

For most states of Germany, yes, contact tracing is currently required in the indoor seating areas of restaurants and also of many venues. Not specifically of FOREIGN visitors but of ALL visitors.

It can be on the smart phone or on a piece of paper which they will keep for three or four weeks and then destroy (after all, there are still a few people around who do not even have a smart phone).

And yes, if someone who has been close to you has been diagnosed positive, you will receive a phone call from the local health authorities, and, depending on how close you were to that person and how long you were near them, they may require you to quarantine. Been there, done that.

It's certainly not fun to quarantine, but it makes total sense to me: I might unknowingly be spreading the virus way before I notice any symptoms myself. The vaccination will prevent me from getting seriously ill, but it will not prevent me from spreading the virus. There is a majority attitude that we need to protect those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or the children.

So, if your friend does not want to risk getting quarantined abroad, she certainly made the right choice to cancel her trip.

Maybe some context is needed.

In Europe there are efforts to do contact tracing. Data collection is primarily manual, and likely done as your Green Pass is scanned, if you have a digital pass. The dPLF is another example, as are hotel registries, and transport records

Basically data is aggregated and if a positive case is found, they can cross reference the persons travels with others. The others can then be notified that they should test, at least in theory.

The problem is, there are many gaps in the data, and the amount of manual information makes it all but impossible to do a thorough job of tracing, it is just very hit or miss.

Enter the realm of smartphone apps. Early on, apps were developed, that as your phone sits in your pocket, it detects other phones near you and logs them as code. If in the event you test positive, that data can then be reviewed, and any phone that you were in close proximity of, for a specified amount of time, is tagged, administrators can then message that phone that they possibly were exposed. All this is done in the background, and for the most part, no real personal information is shared just matches meeting the criteria.

An example is Italy's Immuni app. It is not mandated, you could voluntarily download it based on your decision.

The problem of course is a bit like herd immunity, unless a great majority of people use the app, then little useful information comes out of it. It also relies on most people having active smartphones, again not a given, and having that phone on you. To be honest, I am not even sure the Immuni app ever really took off, or just fell by the wayside, same with other apps of these types.

I am sure many news stories have been written regarding these apps, "examples of how Europeans are giving up freedom in the face of fear", but I tend not to watch those types of "news" channels. This may be the source for the OP's friend.

Paul has explained it perfectly.

Thank you Paul for your comprehensive information.

We are talking about two different things. What Paul describes would be, for Germany, the "Corona-Warn-App". That is not the same thing as the contact tracing they do in restaurants. For contact tracing, there is a different app called "Luca".

"examples of how Europeans are giving up freedom in the face of fear"

I can only speak for Germany, not for other European countries, but as far as we are concerned, I'll have to take the liberty to disagree. First off, neither of these apps is in any way mandatory. It is completely up to you if you want to use them or not.

Secondly, we'll have to define "freedom". I assume that you mean the freedom of data privacy. I won't vouch for the Luca app because that one has been produced by a private company and is not open source. As far as the Corona-Warn-App is concerned though, that one is open source, it has undergone huge discussions in the public, and has eventually been approved by even the most skeptical of privacy advocates. Anyone using Google, Whatsapp, or Facebook certainly doesn't need to waste a thought on the data privacy of this app.

That, by the way, is one of the reasons there is no ONE app for all of Europe. The countries are very different in how strongly they prioritize data privacy.

Edit:
@Paul: I may have got you wrong. You were only quoting "those types of "news" channels". I'll leave this in here anyway for clarifying any misunderstandings caused by this kind of "news".

The UK has a covid tracking app which uses bluetooth tokens on smartphones. It was earlier required to scan the QR code at establishments and if it calculated a risk of infection would contact the phone.

There were also paper records for similar use. All this went out the window after ping-magedden.

We’ve been in Italy now for almost 2 weeks. We submitted a dPLF (online digital passenger locator form) a couple weeks before flying from the USA, and have heard nothing further about that. Nothing’s been required for any App.

Most people are still eating at tables outside restaurants, and most restaurants (not all) have asked to see our proof of vaccination for dining inside, away from smokers at outside tables. People inside wear masks until they are seated, and get hand sanitizing gel once inside. Leaving their table to use the restroom, people putt their mask on again. We’ve also been asked, on a train and at a museum, to see proof of vaccination. Italians have a “Green Pass” to display on their smartphones. We’ve shown our CDC cards, which we’ve explained as being our “American White Pass,” and those have always been satisfactory. Some people hadn’t seen a CDC card before, but pointing out the two “Moderna” listings on the card helped, along with explaining that there’s not a universal national health system in the U.S. to administer such an App.

That museum in Bologna, along with a grocery store today, also stationed a body temperature sensing machine inside the front door, to screen people for fever. Much is being done to in Italy to protect people from spreading any virus, or to get a virus on the first place.

For some categories of visitors in Ukraine, exactly what you describe is required. Fortunately not for vaccinated US visitors.

OP not sure why your friend would "fear" a system of contact tracing which is used to give you quick warning that you may have been exposed. Its exactly what happens in NZ at entry to any shop or business. Its not mandated to use the app - you can sign a registrar instead.

I do rather suspect that once our borders open it will be mandated for foreign visitors - why wouldn't we. Its an easy QR code scan and most of us can do it without breaking stride - it doesn't require an active data connection either. Its just been announced that only vaccinated visitors will be allowed in - this would be the next logical announcement

not sure why your friend would "fear" a system of contact tracing

Good point. From the OP, I am actually not quite sure if she feared the contact tracing itself or the quarantine.

If the former - data privacy concerns - I totally share those concerns, and there are many people who do. That's why the Corona-Warn-App has been under extremely close scrutiny by privacy advocates. And absolutely, we need good management of the data that is being collected in restaurants and other places. They are required to destroy your data after three or four weeks, and they may not use your data for any other purpose (like for sending you advertisements).

If the latter... well, sure, it's inconvenient to quarantine, especially when you're on vacation. But if you have been exposed to someone and are possibly already contagious yourself, that's just plain responsible behavior. Everyone can expect that much solidarity from you, especially those people who cannot be vaccinated (I am not talking of those who decide not to get vaccinated and prefer to believe in conspiracy theories instead). I sure don't want to see anyone running around wilfully risking other people's lives when they should be in quarantine.