Todd Epp of KELO Radio tests the Governor’s tracking app and finds it does a fair job of telling Kristi Noem his location—within general airstrike blast radius:
KELO.com News (actually, news director Todd Epp), downloaded the app late Friday. Below is a rundown of where it said I was and whether I was actually there or not.
2:49 a.m. Saturday–Unknown location (my daughter’s house). CORRECT
9:19 p.m. Saturday–Dr. Lynda O’Connor, licensed psychologist. PARTIALLY CORRECT. I was actually at the Arby’s on 41st Street, which is next door.
9:34 p.m. Saturday–A Taste of Country Catering–PARTIALLY CORRECT. This is near my daughter’s home.
1:34 a.m. Sunday–Home. CORRECT.
5:38 p.m. Sunday–Southside Walmart. CORRECT.
6:32 p.m. Sunday–Redbox. PARTIALLY CORRECT. I was at the Walgreens on south Cliff. It has a Redbox. I did not rent any movies.
7:03 p.m. Sunday–Home. CORRECT.
8:54 p.m. Monday–Top Hat Bar & Lounge. (I wish!) SORT OF CORRECT. I parked in the City parking lot about 100 yards or so west of the Top Hat. I was actually parked next to the KELO Radio studio-to-tower link, which is east of the KELO Radio studios [Todd Epp, “How Accurate Is the CARE19 Coronavirus Tracking/Tracing App?” KELO Radio, 2020.04.27].
The CARE19 app, developed by a Microsoft engineer in Fargo, is intended to allow users who test positive for coronavirus to release their location data to the state “to help in contact tracing and forecasting the pandemic’s progression with accurate, real-time data.” The state says all data is anonymous, so Kristi Noem can’t use it to track which of her former staffers are in and out of Paul TenHaken’s house discussing the 2022 gubernatorial race.
I’ve never switched on the location tracker on my phone. I’ll stick with my regime of going to the office (where I see maybe five people a day), making one shopping trip a week, and social-distance running along the railroad tracks. If I get coronavirus, I’ll let you all know and provide a detailed itinerary of my past two weeks.
So, the app is a good first shot, but it needs some fine tuning. I think it could get to the point of being useful in tracking. I don’t know what might be worse, “false positives” or the “misses.” Dr. Lynda O’Connor and the Hop Hat Bar and Lounge might be a little miffed they might be visited by the COVID police, and Arby’s might not get the going over it needed.
In China, they also use apps to provide information on the locations of positive cases. You can then avoid them. Also, you have to leave your name and number at any place you visit. That way they can contact you if someone in the store or who visited the store when you did turns up positive. Then you can get a test or self-quarantine for 14 days.
ProudCrowd (the tech behind the app) and politics:
https://www.emergingprairie.com/fargo-startup-proudcrowd-enters-political-realm-with-new-e-commerce-venture/