Grekousis George, Liu Ye
School of Geography and Planning, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, No 135, Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, Haizhu, 510275, China.
Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, Sun Yat-sen University, No 135, Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, Haizhu, 510275, China.
Sustain Cities Soc. 2021 Aug;71:102995. doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102995. Epub 2021 May 12.
Digital contact tracing provides an expeditious and comprehensive way to collect and analyze data on people's proximity, location, movement, and health status. However, this technique raises concerns about data privacy and its overall effectiveness. This paper contributes to this debate as it provides a systematic review of digital contact tracing studies between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. Following the PRISMA protocol for systematic reviews and the CHEERS statement for quality assessment, 580 papers were initially screened, and 19 papers were included in a qualitative synthesis. We add to the current literature in three ways. First, we evaluate whether digital contact tracing can mitigate COVID-19 by either reducing the effective reproductive number or the infected cases. Second, we study whether digital is more effective than manual contact tracing. Third, we analyze how proximity/location awareness technologies affect data privacy and population participation. We also discuss proximity/location accuracy problems arising when these technologies are applied in different built environments (i.e., home, transport, mall, park). This review provides a strong rationale for using digital contact tracing under specific requirements. Outcomes may inform current digital contact tracing implementation efforts worldwide regarding the potential benefits, technical limitations, and trade-offs between effectiveness and privacy.
数字接触者追踪提供了一种快速且全面的方式来收集和分析关于人们的接近程度、位置、移动以及健康状况的数据。然而，这项技术引发了对数据隐私及其整体有效性的担忧。本文通过对2020年1月1日至2021年3月31日期间的数字接触者追踪研究进行系统综述，为这场辩论做出了贡献。遵循系统综述的PRISMA协议和质量评估的CHEERS声明，最初筛选了580篇论文，19篇论文被纳入定性综合分析。我们从三个方面为当前文献做出了补充。第一，我们评估数字接触者追踪是否可以通过降低有效繁殖数或感染病例数来减轻新冠疫情。第二，我们研究数字追踪是否比人工接触者追踪更有效。第三，我们分析接近度/位置感知技术如何影响数据隐私和民众参与度。我们还讨论了这些技术应用于不同建筑环境（即家庭、交通、商场、公园）时出现的接近度/位置准确性问题。本综述为在特定要求下使用数字接触者追踪提供了有力的理论依据。研究结果可能会为当前全球数字接触者追踪的实施工作提供有关潜在益处、技术局限性以及有效性与隐私之间权衡的信息。
