Technology Will Not Save Us – The New York Times

April 29, 2020

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To fight the pandemic, we need to focus more on unglamorous, human-powered tactics.

Credit…Timo Lenzen

April 29, 2020, 12:43 p.m. ET

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.

This will sound weird coming from a professional tech writer: Technology will not end a pandemic. People will.

There has been both hype and hand-wringing about tech that turns people’s smartphones into disease sentinels. Governments, health care authorities and companies around the world are using information about where we go to help locate coronavirus hot spots or notify potentially infected people.

There are good elements of this location-tracking technology, and serious shortcomings. Mostly, though, I’m concerned that citizens, companies and political leaders will fixate on this technology at the expense of more helpful but difficult policy choices.

If so, we’ll waste money, risk lives and provide an opening for technologists to oversell what they do.

It’s not all worrisome. To my surprise, the big American technology companies have been sensible and responsible about how our smartphones should track where people infected with the coronavirus have been.

Google and Apple, which are coordinating on technology for infection-tracking projects, are revising their initial plans with input from technical and health care experts. Instead of the usual big company impulse to let money-minded people take the lead, the nerds are wading into the details.

Yes, there will be problems with the location-tracking apps, as my Times colleagues wrote today. The technology will mess up, some people will be excluded, and there will be privacy downsides that we should monitor carefully.

But the perfect should not be the enemy of the good. Location data is likely to be a useful tool in a large pandemic-fighting toolbox.

Notice what I said. ONE tool. Technology is not magic. We need to focus more on unglamorous, human-powered tactics.

Andy Slavitt, the former director of Medicare and Medicaid in the Obama administration, wrote on Twitter that early in the pandemic he worked to see if Google and Apple would collaborate on smartphone tracking. “I was looking for silver bullets,” he tweeted. “But I was lying to myself.”

Slavitt changed his focus. He teamed up with Scott Gottlieb, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration under President Trump, to help write a pandemic-fighting proposal that emphasizes low-tech solutions.

They said the United States needed comprehensive, coordinated coronavirus testing, and tens of billions of dollars in government spending to isolate and compensate infected people to limit spread among family members. They said a couple hundred thousand people may be needed to do the laborious work to identify infected people.

What we need to do is hard, and I worry that will make us look for tech quick-fixes. Already there are companies pitching heat-detection scanners, corporate trackers of employees’ health, spying tools for coronavirus detection and software that probably cannot predict disease outbreaks.

Endless focus on the merits and drawbacks of technology to fight the coronavirus isn’t going to solve our problems. Less technology, please, and more competent humans.

So, technology can’t fix everything! But there are tech companies and tech people deploying their skills and resources in helpful ways during this pandemic.

I asked two technology leaders I trust for examples that might otherwise fly below the radar. I’ll be returning to this topic again.

Roy Bahat, who invests in young tech companies with Bloomberg Beta, mentioned U.S. Digital Response. The group, organized in part by the technology executive Raylene Yung, matches local governments with volunteer technical assistance. The volunteers are helping build websites that would help small businesses request loans, coordinate meal deliveries to homebound people and create health assessment screenings and other digital government services.

Julie Samuels, executive director of the nonprofit industry group Tech:NYC, highlighted a similar tech assistance volunteer program from the New York State government. (Google has also said it helped put together a website for unemployment assistance applications in the state, which, like many, has been overwhelmed by demand.)

Samuels also mentioned Propel, a start-up that helps people manage their food stamp assistance on their phones. The company is now working to help food stamp recipients access personal donations, keep them informed about the coronavirus and share their struggles.

And Bahat talked up the work of the technology executives Joe Wilson and Eric Ries, who are coordinating an umbrella group of companies, volunteer groups and health care providers working to supply personal protective equipment to hospitals and states.

Facebook drama: The company pushed out some of the people responsible for finding and stopping hackers. My colleagues Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac write that some of the affected people believe they’re being treated unfairly. Also, The Wall Street Journal traces Mark Zuckerberg’s sparring with board members who felt their views were being dismissed.
Anime with a side of Marx: The Communist Youth League and other Chinese government-sanctioned groups have been flooding Bilibili, a popular online hub for animation and video games in China, with coronavirus-related conspiracy theories and nationalist messages, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
A raccoon banker runs the Bank of Nook: In a perfect deadpan tone, The Financial Times writes about interest rate cuts by the fictional central bank in the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” video game. “The bank’s raccoon-like manager, Tom Nook … apologised for ‘any inconvenience’ and offered a compensatory gift of a floor mat shaped like a bell.”

Hugs to this

“I think you’re muted?” “Look at your little cat!” The things we say in our work-from-home days, smushed into 45 seconds.

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else you’d like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.

- What should I do if I feel sick?
  
  If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
- When will this end?
  
  This is a difficult question, because a lot depends on how well the virus is contained. A better question might be: “How will we know when to reopen the country?” In an American Enterprise Institute report, Scott Gottlieb, Caitlin Rivers, Mark B. McClellan, Lauren Silvis and Crystal Watson staked out four goal posts for recovery: Hospitals in the state must be able to safely treat all patients requiring hospitalization, without resorting to crisis standards of care; the state needs to be able to at least test everyone who has symptoms; the state is able to conduct monitoring of confirmed cases and contacts; and there must be a sustained reduction in cases for at least 14 days.
- How can I help?
  
  The Times Neediest Cases Fund has started a special campaign to help those who have been affected, which accepts donations here. Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities. More than 30,000 coronavirus-related GoFundMe fund-raisers have started in the past few weeks. (The sheer number of fund-raisers means more of them are likely to fail to meet their goal, though.)
- Should I wear a mask?
  
  The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
- How does coronavirus spread?
  
  It seems to spread very easily from person to person, especially in homes, hospitals and other confined spaces. The pathogen can be carried on tiny respiratory droplets that fall as they are coughed or sneezed out. It may also be transmitted when we touch a contaminated surface and then touch our face.
- Is there a vaccine yet?
  
  No. Clinical trials are underway in the United States, China and Europe. But American officials and pharmaceutical executives have said that a vaccine remains at least 12 to 18 months away.
- What makes this outbreak so different?
  
  Unlike the flu, there is no known treatment or vaccine, and little is known about this particular virus so far. It seems to be more lethal than the flu, but the numbers are still uncertain. And it hits the elderly and those with underlying conditions — not just those with respiratory diseases — particularly hard.
- What if somebody in my family gets sick?
  
  If the family member doesn’t need hospitalization and can be cared for at home, you should help him or her with basic needs and monitor the symptoms, while also keeping as much distance as possible, according to guidelines issued by the C.D.C. If there’s space, the sick family member should stay in a separate room and use a separate bathroom. If masks are available, both the sick person and the caregiver should wear them when the caregiver enters the room. Make sure not to share any dishes or other household items and to regularly clean surfaces like counters, doorknobs, toilets and tables. Don’t forget to wash your hands frequently.
- Should I stock up on groceries?
  
  Plan two weeks of meals if possible. But people should not hoard food or supplies. Despite the empty shelves, the supply chain remains strong. And remember to wipe the handle of the grocery cart with a disinfecting wipe and wash your hands as soon as you get home.
- Should I pull my money from the markets?
  
  That’s not a good idea. Even if you’re retired, having a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds so that your money keeps up with inflation, or even grows, makes sense. But retirees may want to think about having enough cash set aside for a year’s worth of living expenses and big payments needed over the next five years.
- What should I do with my 401(k)?
  
  Watching your balance go up and down can be scary. You may be wondering if you should decrease your contributions — don’t! If your employer matches any part of your contributions, make sure you’re at least saving as much as you can to get that “free money.”