Technology

Asian cities virus-proof public transit with smart shelters, thermal scanners BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Taking a bus or the subway? Not without first checking your temperature in a smart shelter or touch-free kiosk. Rina Chandran U.S.

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Taking a bus or the subway? Not without first checking your temperature in a smart shelter or touch-free kiosk.

Covidwise, the pandemic app from Apple and Google, to roll out in Virginia The technology arrives nearly four months after Apple and Google partnered to create the software for public health agencies. Matt O'Brien and Sarah Rankin USA TODAY

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia has rolled out a smartphone app to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus, becoming the first U.S. state to use new pandemic technology created by Apple and Google.

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A person in China scans a QR code with a smartphone to register their real name before getting off a bus in Wuhan, China. Zhang Chang/China News Service via Getty Images

The US is rolling out digital contact tracing. How has it been working in other countries?

vox.com - by Shirin Ghaffary - April 18, 2020

If and when lockdown restrictions are lifted in the US, would you agree to let the government anonymously track your interactions with people within a 6-foot radius to control the spread of Covid-19?

That’s an increasingly urgent question as President Trump and state governors debate how and when to safely reopen the US economy — and as technology is being touted as a solution that would help people reenter public life.

And tech giants are stepping up. Last week, Apple and Google announced a plan to turn phones into opt-in Covid-19 tracking machines that would, if all goes as planned, make it easier for health officials to identify and alert people if they’ve been exposed to the virus.