SPOILER ALERT: I’ll answer the question raised by the episode title first. The dangers of COVID-19 are very real and you should protect yourself. You don’t need to fear your cell phone announcing you to the world as someone who contracted the virus.

When I initially planned on talking to Leah Fowler on The CAP⋅impact Podcast we were just going to talk about her research into fem-tech and health apps, and the many privacy concerns that are inherent in inputting your personal health data into an app. And then COVID-19 flipped the world on its axis, but there was still a lot of talk about tech stepping in to help address the pandemic. Most notably was Apple and Google announcing they would launch some form of digital contact tracing.

So instead Professor Fowler and I wound up talking about how her research could apply here. There’s also a fair bit of compare and contrast with how California and Texas are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the crisis is changing the employer-employee relationship. Both of us being millennials, we also talk about how COVID-19 is impacting online conversations as well.

If you want to keep up with the work the Leah Fowler is doing as Research Director for the Health Law & Policy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center, you can start by visiting her UHLC faculty page or by following her on Twitter @_leahrfowler. You can also find her research on Google Scholar.

You can support The CAP⋅impact Podcast for free by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or on your favorite podcasting listening app. To keep up to date with things going on with the Capital Center, please Like the Capital Center for Law & Policy on Facebook, and follow the Capital Center on Twitter and Instagram @mcgeorgecapctr.

https://soundcloud.com/capimpactca/episode-64-what-you-do-and-dont-need-to-fear-in-the-covid-19-crisis