Millions of Americans have turned to technology to keep them connected with family, friends, their church and schools as they stay at home to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

While President Donald Trump has been pushing for weeks to reopen the country, health experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci have said the virus decides when the country will reopen.

Some governors, such as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been very vocal in the media about COVID-19, says more testing is required before the country can reopen.

At an April 10 White House press briefing, Trump said reopening the country is the most difficult decision he has ever had to make.

Trump also announced he was assembling a new task force of health experts and governors to help him determine when and how to reopen the country.

So, what will our country look like when it reopens?

After 76 days of lockdown, residents in China are finding a new normal with their government’s new tracking app.

According to a recent CNN Global Town Hall with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporter David Culver explained how this new Chinese COVID-19 tracking app works.

Culver said the app, which is a bar code on his cellphone, is linked to his passport information and cellphone number and is essentially his golden key (passport) into restaurants, shopping malls and hotels.

He added the Chinese government is using the app to track whether a person has been around another person who has a confirmed case of COVID-19.

So, will America’s government follow China’s government in using technology?

As Trump, health experts, governors and local leaders work to find a solution to reopening America, Apple and Google have partnered to develop COVID-19 contact tracing technology, according to an April 10 Apple news release.

The news release states, “In the spirit of collaboration, Google and Apple are announcing a joint effort to enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus, with user privacy and security central to the design.

The release further states, “To further this cause, Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing.”

So, how will this new COVID-19 contact tracing technology work, and will privacy and security really be central to the design?

Is this contact tracing technology going to be America’s new normal for its citizens when it reopens?

Susan Bryant

editorial assistant

Parkland Press

Northwestern Press