Heather Meador and Anna Herber-Downey use dating apps on the job β and their boss knows it. They've learned that dating apps are the most efficient way to inform users that people they previously met on the sites may have exposed them to sexually transmitted infections. The duo has found that the telephone call, a traditional method of contact tracing, no longer works well. Even texting is ineffective, they said. And people aren't necessarily answering messages on Facebook. The dating apps are where they're at.
Because many people are meeting sex partners online β via sites like Grindr or Snapchat, which are headquartered in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, California, respectively β contact tracers often don't have much information to go on, just a screen name or a picture.
So, about a year ago, Meador and her colleagues got approval from their bosses at the local level to build profiles on the app, through which they can contact the sex partners of infected people. Traditionally, contact tracers interview people infected with an STI about their recent encounters and then reach out to those partners to tell them about the potential exposure.
Linn County contact tracers use the apps throughout their workday. Grindr, in particular, relies on geolocation, showing users matches who are close by. So the tracers use the apps when they're out and about, hoping to wander into the same neighborhoods as the person diagnosed with an STI. Sometimes users "tap" the contract tracers to see whether they're interested β in dating, that is.
When the public health officials spot someone they're looking for, they send a message asking for a call. Linn County's decision to move online comes as STI rates rise nationally, funding to fight them falls, and people adopt new technologies to meet people and seek fun. Jeffrey Klausner, a University of Southern California public health professor, who previously served as San Francisco's director of STD prevention and control services. That funding disparity means few public health departments have staff members who can go online.
