When there is no vaccine for a disease, ‘Test, Trace, Treat/Isolate’ is the public health go-to directive. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile phone apps are designed to improve on this. But COVID-apps have not been effective as a public health tool. Countries spend millions to develop them, yet they have been shown to have terrible return on investment. This commentary explores why COVID-apps are generally championed and provides three brief case studies (Germany, Sierra Leone, Canada) of non-app public health success. In conclusion, I argue that we need to get our public health care priorities straight: Better and more testing; increased investment in manual contact tracing and treatments; hospitalization when necessary; and wrap-around care – assistance with groceries, cleaning, child- or eldercare responsibilities, telehealth doctor appointment hookups – for sick people in home isolation.

中文翻译：

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COVID-Apps：在大流行中误导公众健康注意力


当没有针对某种疾病的疫苗时，“检测、追踪、治疗/隔离”是公共卫生的首要指令。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，手机应用程序旨在改善这一点。但新冠病毒应用程序作为一种公共卫生工具并没有发挥作用。各国花费数百万美元来开发它们，但事实证明它们的投资回报率很低。本评论探讨了为什么新冠肺炎应用程序受到普遍拥护，并提供了非应用程序公共卫生成功的三个简短案例研究（德国、塞拉利昂、加拿大）。总之，我认为我们需要明确公共卫生保健的优先事项：更好、更多的检测；增加对手动接触者追踪和治疗的投资；必要时住院治疗；为居家隔离的病人提供全方位护理，包括食品杂货、清洁、儿童或老人护理责任、远程医疗医生预约连接等方面的帮助。