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REPORT OF THE <br />COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY <br />DATE: September 1, 2020 <br />PLACE: Council Chambers <br />TIME: 2:13 p.m. <br />Council Chair and Members <br />Hawaii County Council <br />Hilo, Hawaii 96720 <br />Re: Comm. No. 1050/Resolution No. 716-20 <br />Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred Resolution No. 716-20, reports as <br />follows: <br />Resolution No. 716-20, transmitted by Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder via <br />Communication No. 1050, urges the Mayor's Office to authorize Google and/or Apple to release <br />Sustain Hawai`i`s Safe Travels Contact Tracing application for voluntary use by County of <br />Hawaii constituents to augment existing safety protocols currently in place in the State of <br />Hawaii in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. <br />There were no testifiers for this committee. <br />Stephanie Yan, M.D., General Surgeon and Kevin Vaccarello, Executive Director of Sustain <br />Hawaii, joined the committee meeting via Webex. Dr. Yan and Mr. Vaccarello worked on <br />creating the Safe Travels Contact Tracing application tailored for Hawaii. The application is ready <br />to be released but due to the requirements of Google and/or Apple a signing authority is needed. <br />There are four types of signing authority that would be allowed which are; 1. Government, <br />2. Insurers, 3. Education, and 4. Hospitals or health institutes. The application uses GPS <br />technology to digital contract tracing that would help track the spread of COVID-19 infections. <br />Use of the application is voluntary. Users could stream line information and/or check geographic <br />areas where infections are or have been active in order to avoid those specific areas. The <br />technology would bring awareness to and could help prevent the spread of the virus. Privacy <br />concerns were mentioned. <br />Dr. Yan stated that the application allows for redaction of personal information which leaves it <br />up to the user to decide how much personal information to share. The application boundaries are <br />by county jurisdiction and will not be effective state-wide unless the state approves the <br />application for state-wide use. The application is free and can work alongside other applications. <br />Council Chair Aaron Chung stated concerns that there wasn't a Department of Health <br />representative to share their opinion of the application. Mr. Chung would be more comfortable <br />from hearing from others and encouraged Mr. Vaccarello and Dr. Yan to reach out and connect <br />with the Mayor. <br />The overall opinions of other Council Members were that it is better to have something than <br />nothing at all. As a whole they are in agreement that some type of action needs to be taken now. <br />PSC Report No. 15 <br />