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Comment by user_50123890 | Hacker News Reader

Why does it have to be anonymous? The coronavirus is not HIV, there is no social stigma in knowing someone was infected.

The biggest problem is exactly the fact that since it spreads so easily, it's impossible to reach all who have to been exposed

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> Why does it have to be anonymous? The coronavirus is not HIV, there is no social stigma in knowing someone was infected.

Fear of contagion is strong and not always rational.

Healthcare workers in the UK have been attacked. Sometimes that was to get hold of their NHS ID badge, but at least once it was because the attacker didn't want covid-19 to be spread.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11347158/nurses-scrubs-superma...

https://abc13.com/nurse-attacked-as-man-accuses-her-of-tryin...

https://wwmt.com/news/coronavirus/nurse-attacked-on-her-way-...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52151141

> Sometimes that was to get hold of their NHS ID badge

What's the point of that?

I don't know, but people think it's to get access to "key worker" shopping times.

Supermarkets over here are opening for an hour or so in the morning and leaving that hour for only key workers.

But I don't know if that's why.

Maybe you work in an American office with me, a mentally unstable individual. You were the first person to get sick in the office, everyone knows it. Now I'm sick and my family is sick. Maybe I take a severe financial hit or someone is my family gets really sick, perhaps even dies. Now I'm VERY upset with you. Maybe I follow you to your car after work... maybe I follow you home. Maybe to the store. Either way, there's a gun in my waistband and I stopped giving a fuck. You sure you want me knowing you were patient zero?

It's anonymous, so nobody can learn your contact network as a side-effect of contact tracing. Your contact network much more valuable information than the fact that you have the virus.

even if covid status isn't sensitive, location & interpersonal associate data is sensitive

People have been best for having been associated with outbreak regions in China India and the US. People have been attacked for looking different like Muslims in India or Black's/Whites in China, Asian in Europe/Americas.

Being different has always cause issue but we should not fix by hiding it but we should fix it by other way be it changing perception or find sameness among the difference, etc.

When people actively avoid each other even for good reasons, no sure how we can argue there is no social stigma.

If there is social stigma then social stigma it is that need to be fixed, rather than hiding the fact itself.

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