This week the time had come, the Corona-Warn-App of the Federal Government was launched. It is intended to help to trace infection chains and to warn people at an early stage if they have had contact with demonstrably infected persons. It is a voluntary tool of the Federal Government for private persons. Inscribe, on the other hand, supports businesses and companies in implementing state regulations and provides a simple, secure and data protection-compliant way of storing personal data for contact tracing.
Traceability of infection chains and containment of the spread of infection currently particularly important
Many people become infected with COVID-19 without even noticing it. Even if no symptoms are noticeable yet, those infected are potentially contagious for their environment. In some people, the entire course of the disease is without any obvious symptoms.
In order to make the loosening of COVID-19 measures safe and to be able to detect infection chains as completely as possible, many industries have been obliged since 11 May 2020 to record personal data of their customers and to keep this data for four weeks. This means that contact tracing can then be carried out manually: this means that the public health department will ask infected persons about their contact persons and whereabouts over the last few weeks. The direct contact persons and locations with whom the demonstrably infected persons have been in contact are informed about the possibility of infection. The establishments, premises, companies and organisations are then obliged to provide the Health Office with the personal data previously collected from the day on which contact was made, so that chains of infection can be broken and any spread can be contained. Inscribe digitalises this entire process – but more about this later.
Official corona warning app of the Federal Government as an early warning system
The Corona-Warn-App of the German government is an app that uses Bluetooth technology and can be installed voluntarily on your own smartphone. It is designed to warn people at an early stage if they have been in contact with demonstrably infected persons. With the help of the app, the smartphones exchange temporary identification keys via Bluetooth without allowing direct conclusions about the owner of the smartphone. Should a user of the app test positive for the virus, he or she will store this information in his or her profile. In this way, all persons in the immediate vicinity can be warned if they have been exposed to a risk of infection. This means that the users of the app will be informed as soon as they have been in the immediate vicinity for a longer period of time with a person who is proven to be infected.
Inscribe, on the other hand, supports businesses and companies in keeping guest and visitor lists in accordance with data protection requirements
With Inscribe, companies from all sectors have the opportunity to digitise data collection for the public health department. Visitors, guests and participants scan the QR code generated individually for the location with their smartphone and can thus leave their personal data without contact. The data of the persons present is stored in encrypted form in compliance with data protection regulations and protected from the prying eyes of third parties. As soon as the person leaves the premises, he or she can check out again via his or her smartphone. Should this be forgotten, individual times can be set after which the persons are considered to have checked out automatically. In this way, exact time windows can be determined as to whether the persons were in danger of infection.
The data is stored in encrypted form and can only be retrieved with a private access key. After the prescribed retention period of 30 days, all data is automatically deleted. In addition, in the case of contact tracking, with just one click and secure verification of the service provider, a complete list of potential contact persons can be made available to the Health Office in compliance with the German Health Regulations (DSGVO). With Inscribe, additional work and costs on the part of the companies can be kept to a minimum.
“Publicly available lists, disinfection of pens, manual sorting by date and time and storage of documents are no longer necessary”,
explains Oliver Hüttig, CEO of the software and consulting company COCUS AG from Düsseldorf, which created the Inscribe solution. In addition, the digital web application can be used on any smartphone without downloading.
No either-or, but different fields of application and advantages
Both solutions are designed to contain COVID-19 and are a further step towards a more digital future! The Corona-Warn-App is and will remain a voluntary tool of the Federal Government for each individual. Inscribe, on the other hand, supports businesses and companies in implementing the Corona Protection Ordinance guidelines, which have been in force since 11 May 2020, and provides a simple, secure and data protection-compliant way to store and make available personal data for contact tracking.
