COVID-19 movement restrictions can be more targeted to allow relaxing of lockdowns

April 2020

Professor Raja Jurdak, from QUT’s Centre for Data Science who specialises in tracking infectious disease outbreaks using dynamic network modelling and graphing based on people’s movement patterns says blanket COVID-19 lockdowns could become targeted to designated hotspots or neighbourhoods with the increased availability of personal location data. Professor Jurdak said as the pandemic continued to restrict people’s movements, data about transmission sources and location or transport route ‘hot spots’ were paramount to prevention methods. “We need to have a transparent conversation about what the public has to say about privacy and whether some individual freedoms can be relaxed at this critical point to secure public health benefits,” Professor Jurdak said. “If we had all that data where people are moving and who they are in contact with then we would be able to zoom in and control the spread of the disease much faster and that would then better inform the public and influence policy decisions. “The privacy considerations are equally important here, where individuals need to maintain control over what data they share. “There are technologies that can be used to balance this need and automate contract tracing while preserving citizen privacy, such as a proposal that would involve transferring only encrypted contact data to a central server.” Professor Jurdak, in collaboration with researchers from CSIRO, John Hopkins University and University of New South Wales has recently conducted a case study using smart card travel data in Sydney to identify highly influential travellers for spreading disease on a public transport system.

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Artists in Residence Science Program

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About the exhibition

The 2012–2018 Art meets Science Exhibitions provided an opportunity for artists from across South East Queensland to join the artists participating in the Artist in Residence Science program in showcasing their recent artworks that demonstrate a strong art-science connection. Find out more about the artists and artworks featured in these exhibitions in the 2015-2018 Art meets Science exhibition catalogues.