Of TraceTogether and trust together

TRUST is essential for contact tracing efforts to be successful. However, the recent revelation that Singapore's contact tracing data is available to law enforcement for criminal investigations, in spite of previous reassurances that this would not be the case, has drawn attention not only locally but also internationally. Will the alarm and emergent mistrust pose difficulties for Singapore's fight against the ongoing pandemic?

It is important to situate these worries in historical context. Contact tracing for the sake of public health has a long and storied history, raising moral questions aplenty. Disadvantaged communities around the world, in particular, have long been suspicious that contact tracing efforts might perpetuate - and mask - further discrimination and exploitation.

Take, for instance, contact tracing efforts in the United States in the 1980s, during the early years of the Aids epidemic. At a time when homosexuality was still illegal in many states, compiling lists of gay men and their sexual partners - who were believed to be the source of the epidemic - felt risky and stigmatising. Even as public officials argued that Aids patients had a moral duty to disclose their sexual history, there was widespread distrust that a public health issue was being used to cover and justify discrimination against the gay community.