Lessons Learned from COVIDSafe: Understanding Conditions for Successful Implementation of Track and Trace Technologies

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the implementation of Coronavirus disease (COVID) Safe, a track and trace technology designed for the Australian context. Contact tracing technologies can provide communities with a method to contain the spread of communicable diseases by quickly identifying and notifying people who have come into contact with infected individuals. Exposed individuals could then be informed, tested, and isolated, which would break the chain of further transmission. Inexperience in secure enactment of track and trace technology has also marred public perception of the efficacy of COVIDSafe. Awareness campaigns that raise knowledge and understanding are important tools for promoting change in social behaviours and norms; however, an important consideration is understanding the cultural context. A lack of public education and trust has failed to generate a meaningful awareness of what COVIDSafe can in terms of providing protection for the Australian population.