THIS IS A PROMOTED POST

This year has forced innovation globally. Throughout 2020, much of the creativity has appeared in problem-solving and in the interest of human interactions returning to “normal.” For example, a handful of companies are rapidly developing one of the world’s first totally synthetic vaccines to fight COVID-19. But, the innovation didn’t stop with synthetics. A few of the companies have even gone so far as to DNA-match the COVID-19 virus to “trick” your body into fighting off an infection as the body will “think” or “assume” it has had the virus before — and will develop antibodies. As we sit on the eve of these drugs being distributed globally, this would revolutionize drug development forever.

All the while, the WHO — World Health Organization — is contact tracing, globally, to slow down infections through access to information. You see, the power is in the data — if they can trace where infections are and where they trickled in from (aka contact tracing), we can slow down infection by informing everyone around them. Information appears to be the currency to eradicate the virus, ultimately.

Like the WHO, the U.S.-based CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is also contact tracing people state-to-state and, in some cases, city-to-city. Small towns are attempting to do contact tracing on their own. In Canada, it’s the Public Health Agency. In Australia, it’s the Australian National Centre for Disease Control and in Germany, it’s the German Center for Infection Research (or DZIF).

It all stops with cities and towns. They are all on their own to locally trace and contact anyone and everyone at risk of a potential or historical infection.

But, what if you had a tech product that could do passive (and anonymous) contact tracing anywhere, at any time? On a college campus. In a high school. In a hospital. In a company. In an athletic department or even an entire small town?

Meet Corona Tag — it’s the first piece of 100% anonymous tech you wear that passively does contact tracing for you.

Here’s the scenario: Someone in your company reports to HR or their supervisor that he or she has contracted COVID-19. Suppose everyone wears the Corona Tag on a lanyard while at work; the tag automatically and anonymously tracks all the other tags worn in and around the facility. As people move around, meet with each other, meet one-on-one or in groups, each tag communicates where it is, how far away from another tag it is and how long they are together. Each tag has a unique ID, and only the tracking data is saved and analyzed — all locally in the tag itself. Who’s wearing which tag is not inside any tracking database — only the tag ID itself. In fact, the standard protocol would be that only HR can match a tag to a person’s name, but that would only be done AFTER the report of an infection.

Once a report has been made, the anonymized database tracking every other Corona Tag in the company can match which other tags have come in contact with the tag that the infected person has worn. It then creates an incredibly detailed contact tracing web. This allows a company’s HR department, for example, to only contact or warn those who were within close proximity to the infected tag. No company-wide messaging, no embarrassing “who was around Mike” type of calls, and, remember, the contact tracing data is anonymized because it’s tracking the Corona Tag number, not the person’s ID.

It’s like having your own personal, WHO or CDC inside your school, hospital, company or town.

Marketed by Kramer Electronics, Corona Tag is GDPR-compliant for security and data privacy. The proprietary technologies used inside the Corona Tag ensure that only the distance between tags and exposure duration is measured. No location, names or other private data is ever recorded or transmitted, and no GPS or SIM cards are needed. Proximity information always logs the last 14 days of use, and no database or online connectivity is required to access the information. The data can only be accessed by authorized staff (for example, company or campus-wide health czars, HR or even an appointed Corona Officer) in an organization using a special USB adapter.

As a user (or student in a school), using a lanyard, you simply wear the Corona Tag around your neck — like an ID badge — whenever you are in the facility, at work or on campus. It will anonymously track everywhere you are, who you meet with (aka who you are close to), how long you are with them, and then stores that data for 14 days. In fact, the data is never accessed until and unless there is a reason for contact tracing (for example, a co-worker or fellow classmate is diagnosed with an illness). Plus, the Corona Tag is “on” when it’s around your neck and “off” when you take it off — tracking is deactivated when it’s not being worn. The battery on each tag lasts six months with normal wear.

How it works is simple: Using a low-energy Bluetooth proximity sensor, the Corona Tags communicate the location data to each other’s tag, and then it’s stored locally — within each tag — no centralized storage. If someone becomes ill, their tag is retrieved, and the Corona Officer at the organization accesses the data. Any other tags in the proximity of the infected person’s tag during the previous two weeks can be identified quickly and then notified of a potential infection. The location and tracking data on the Corona Tag is never compromised or accessed until someone turns it over to an authorized Corona Tag officer or HR.

As we enter a new phase of COVID-19, something like Corona Tag is invaluable as it allows companies to “get back to work” and people to be around each other, knowing that someone will notify them if they are exposed expediently, safely and confidentially. In fact, one could argue that this sort of contact tracing is the ultimate in security and privacy as there will be no all-company emails to let everyone know “someone has been infected.” Therefore, there will be no rumor mill of who it might be or who might have been around that person. Corona Tag is reliable, safe, secure contact tracing with fact-based data, and only those that need to know will know. Everyone can instead focus on work or school with the power of information.

The Corona Tag is here:   https://bit.ly/39zfxSX.