Contact HEALTHLYNKED COVID 19 Tracker Support

After downloading and using this app, I began to receive calls numerous times a day from locations from New York, Washington DC, LA, and Texas claiming to be an organization linking to the CDC. They asked me for my personal information (date of birth, address, social security number) before asking me to pay $286 for a COVID test. I was very sick and unable to identify this as a scam until after the fact when my husband heard what had happened. I was told $286 was the cheapest they could go for a test that was free at my local CVS. Due to heavy accents and improper English, I’m assuming every call I received was from someone out of county. Please beware. Do not give any of your personal info over the phone. I’m sure I will be paying for this mistake for a long time.

Self-report is one of the least reliable forms of data collection. This site relies on almost meaningless data. ‘Asymptotic and not confirmed positive’ gives no insight. That category describes “positive COVID-19 without symptoms”—but that captures zero valid responses because we don’t test asymptomatic individuals. The only two meaningful categories are: “confirmed positive” and “symptomatic suspected case but not confirmed by testing” Poor information is much worse than none at all. Under-reporting cases gives the public a false sense of security. Over-reporting results in the public dismissing ALL information as ‘fake news’. Both sources of misinformation result in careless behavior by the public.

This app doesn’t add any helpful information to existing maps and trackers out there already diligently maintained by Johns Hopkins and other organizations. It has a new feed to bombard you with coronavirus news and an ill advised self reporting feature that you can make up a fake email for to submit on a disorganized map. The map is wildly inaccurate with the self reporting and outdated. The topping on the cake though is how the app asks for live location information even when you’re not using the app. For what ends? Maybe reselling to geo-advertisers. Remember folks when you’re not paying for the product, you are the product!