The epidemiological impact of digital and manual contact tracing on the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in the Netherlands: Empirical evidence.

The Dutch government introduced the CoronaMelder smartphone application for digital contact tracing (DCT) to complement manual contact tracing (MCT) by Public Health Services (PHS) during the 2020-2022 SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. Modelling studies showed great potential but empirical evidence of DCT and MCT impact is scarce. We determined reasons for testing, and mean exposure-testing intervals by reason for testing, using routine data from PHS Amsterdam (1 December 2020 to 31 May 2021) and data from two SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic test accuracy studies at other PHS sites in the Netherlands (14 December 2020 to 18 June 2021).

Effectiveness of a COVID-19 contact tracing app in a simulation model with indirect and informal contact tracing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing was used to identify individuals who had been in contact with a confirmed case so that these contacted individuals could be tested and quarantined to prevent further spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Many countries developed mobile apps to find these contacted individuals faster. We evaluate the epidemiological effectiveness of the Dutch app CoronaMelder, where we measure effectiveness as the reduction of the reproduction number R.

Combatting SARS-CoV-2 With Digital Contact Tracing and Notification: Navigating Six Points of Failure.

Digital contact tracing and notification were initially hailed as promising strategies to combat SARS-CoV-2; however, in most jurisdictions, they did not live up to their promise. To avert a given transmission event, both parties must have adopted the technology, it must detect the contact, the primary case must be promptly diagnosed, notifications must be triggered, and the secondary case must change their behavior to avoid the focal tertiary transmission event. If we approximate these as independent events, achieving a 26% reduction in the effective reproduction number R would require an 80% success rate at each of these 6 points of failure.

Responsible design and implementation of technologies for the prevention of infectious diseases: towards a values-based assessment framework for the Dutch government.

Objectives: The Dutch government implemented the apps 'CoronaMelder' and 'CoronaCheck' to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. They faced many questions on how to responsibly implement such technologies. Here, we aim to develop an assessment framework to support the Dutch national government with the responsible design and implementation of technologies for the prevention of future infectious diseases.

The Adoption of a COVID-19 Contact-Tracing App: Cluster Analysis.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was limited adoption of contact-tracing apps (CTAs). Adoption was particularly low among vulnerable people (eg, people with a low socioeconomic position or of older age), while this part of the population tends to have lesser access to information and communication technology and is more vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.

Objective: This study aims to understand the cause of this lagged adoption of CTAs in order to facilitate adoption and find indications to make public health apps more accessible and reduce health disparities.