  Governments around the world have become increasingly frustrated with tech
giants dictating public health policy. The software created by Apple and Google
enables individuals to track their own potential exposure through collated
exposure notifications. However, the same software prohibits location tracking,
denying key information needed by public health officials for robust contract
tracing. This information is needed to treat and isolate COVID-19 positive
people, identify transmission hotspots, and protect against continued spread of
infection. In this article, we present two simple ideas: the lighthouse and the
covid-commons that address the needs of public health authorities while
preserving the privacy-sensitive goals of the Apple and google exposure
notification protocols.
