COVID-19 VIOLATIONS!!
With the current COVID-19 pandemic, ideas for how to prevent the spread and limit exposure are being issued left and right. With schools opening back up again, many wondered how safe it would be for students to return to live on college campuses. There are right ways to handle the situation and wrong ways. A small private college in Michigan, Albion College, may have crossed a line. Their response to the pandemic was to make students download a contract tracing app known as Aura. This app was required to be downloaded by all students who attended the college and refusing would result in a suspension from the college. While contact tracing apps can be helpful, this one in particular tracked students' locations in real-time. The controversy comes from those who feel that collecting and storing students location was an invasion of privacy. The app would even inform the college if you left campus and would proceed to lock your access to the campus facilities.
My Thoughts...
Being a student at Penn State myself I too consider this app to be way too intrusive. I understand that the college had good intentions in using this app, but I would not be comfortable with my college knowing where I am at all times. If Penn State were to implement a protocol similar to this, I for sure would not accept that. I would sooner take the semester off, than sign away my privacy to the university like that. While I understand the tremendous threat of COVID-19, tracking students at all times is not the answer. I'm all for being safe and cautious in regards to the virus, but I would consider this invasion of privacy a greater threat than the virus. If colleges felt that the threat was so high that they'd require an app like this, then I believe it would make more sense for colleges to remain closed.
I think that for any students that are living on campus, a more ethical approach would be weekly testing of ALL students and staff. If one tests positive, then move them to a designated place for them to be treated and quarantined. If you were to feel that something like this tracking app would be beneficial to the safety of everyone, then maybe you'd be better off just staying home for the semester. Sanitation and safety are crucial at the moment, a line needs to be drawn. And having real-time access to every students location is not the answer.
--Enough with that story, now here are my ER diagrams--
Conceptual:
Physical:
My Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ipStaUnOY&feature=youtu.be
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