Colleges requiring virus-screening tech, from virus symptom-checking apps to temperature check stations and wearables, have not rigorously studied if it works
Many schools that use fever scanners and symptom checkers have not rigorously studied if the technology has slowed the spread of Covid-19 on campuses. Tweets: @davidboyles3 , @bridgestateu , @bhrenton , @nytimestech , @hypervisible , @cademetz , @natashanyt , @merbroussard , @jessedamiani , @franciediep , and @cwolffeisenberg Tweets: David Boyles / @davidboyles3 : These virus screening devices are just a new version of TurnItIn. Campus admins are always willing to fork over endless cash for fancy-seeming tech solutions that violate student privacy while demonstrating no evidence that they actually work. https://www.nytimes.com/... Bridgewater State / @bridgestateu : U.S. colleges relying on costly COVID-19 tech tools haven't found a return on heavy investments, the @NYTimes reports. While BSU's low-cost QR codes have aided contact tracers, @BSUWellness reaffirmed that testing is the best tool in outbreak prevention. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... Benjy Renton / @bhrenton : There is an abundance of evidence that testing is a highly effective and affordable way for colleges to detect Covid-19 outbreaks on campus. However, many schools are insistent on using symptom apps and other tech, which have been largely ineffective. https://www.nytimes.com/... @nytimestech : “It's a massive data vacuum,” said one infectious-disease epidemiologist and assistant professor. “The moral of the story is you can't just invest in this tech without having a validation process behind it.” https://www.nytimes.com/... @hypervisible : Oh look: much of the edtech sold to schools during the pandemic is primarily security theater. 😩https://www.nytimes.com/ ... Cade Metz / @cademetz : “'So why are we bothering?' said Bruce Schneier, a prominent security technologist who has described such screening systems as ‘security theater.’” @natashanyt and @Kellen_Browning on college-campus virus-screening tech: https://www.nytimes.com/... Natasha Singer / @natashanyt : Many colleges that made students guinea pigs for unproven Covid-screening technology still cannot say how well —or even if— the tools have hindered campus virus outbreaks. https://www.nytimes.com/... Meredith Broussard / @merbroussard : “At some universities, administrators acknowledged that the tech they adopted this school year did not pan out the way they had hoped.” Imagine that! Colleges That Require Virus-Screening Tech Struggle to Say Whether It Works https://www.nytimes.com/... Jesse Damiani / @jessedamiani : Colleges That Require Virus-Screening Tech Struggle to Say Whether It Works. Many schools that use fever scanners and symptom checkers have not rigorously studied if the technology has slowed the spread of Covid-19 on campuses. https://www.nytimes.com/... Francie Diep / @franciediep : The colleges that used symptom checking apps and temperature scanners can't really show they worked to prevent coronavirus infections: https://www.nytimes.com/... Christine Wolff-Eisenberg / @cwolffeisenberg : New piece out today on college campus “security theater approaches” that “cannot catch the estimated 40 percent of people with the coronavirus who do not have symptoms but are still infectious.” https://www.nytimes.com/...