Will cellphones reveal social-distancing compliance?

The City of Ottawa’s top public health adviser said Monday that officials want to know whether people are heeding their advice about keeping safe distances from each other during the novel coronavirus pandemic, including potentially using location data from cellphones.

Dr. Vera Etches, the city’s medical officer of health, said officials are considering polling people to ask about their social distancing habits but also looking at using “aggregated data, potentially from electronic sources” that will indicate whether people are congregating. Cellphones, she said, are a “potential source that I think is being explored in different places, so we’re looking into different options.”

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is trying to tap more data sources to inform its models because with increased government interventions the numbers could change.

At 4:30 p.m. Monday, Etches reported 22 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 11 indeterminate cases in Ottawa.

Generally, statistics for official diagnoses should be viewed with caution. Testing does not track down all cases in a community because the mild symptoms most people have aren’t distinguishable from common colds, and because public health can’t test large numbers of people.

The health unit estimates there are as many as 4,000 undetected cases of the coronavirus in Ottawa.

Etches said it won’t be until the rate of transmission starts decreasing that health officials can start discussing a return of regular life. That hasn’t happened yet.

During a teleconference with reporters, Etches continued to stress the importance of social distancing as the provincial government moves to close more “non-essential” businesses starting Wednesday.

The Ottawa health unit has been receiving complaints from people who have seen neighbours returning from trips outside Canada but not going into isolation for the required 14 days.

“The feedback we have is that people are taking it seriously and there are exceptions, and people are concerned about the exceptions,” Etches said.

Those reports are good for a health unit that’s trying to mine new data sources about people’s social-distancing habits and the challenges that come with them, she said.

“There may be things we can do to help people over time,” Etches said. “If they’re having trouble with their mental health we need to monitor what’s happening.”

Etches said returning travellers might miss the messages to self-isolate for 14 days, which is why the health unit is trying to push the communications in various places, including on the OPH website, at the airport and through community associations.

City parks remain open but anyone passing through is recommended to adhere to the social-distancing recommendations of keeping two metres apart.

Health officials are watching in case the local government needs to take stronger actions when it comes to keeping municipal parks open.

“If we find that people aren’t adhering to the guidelines and the advice, then we’ll have to revisit that,” Etches said.