COVID-19 Contact Tracing Information
The Prairie Dog Brewing guest who filled out this contact tracing form clearly missed the entire point of contact tracing, which has nothing to do with customer “cleanliness”. AHS only uses this data to tell customers if they may have been exposed, not to track down where the exposure came from.
What Do We Collect?
The only information that we need to collect for COVID-19 contact tracing is:
- The guest’s first and last name
- The guest’s telephone number
- The date and time when the guest was seated
Why Should Guests Complete Contact Tracing Forms?
1.
To keep you safe and informed. Our restaurant is a busy place and thousands of people walk through our doors every week. In the event that any one of those people receive a COVID-19 diagnosis, Alberta Health Services will request a list of everyone who attended our restaurant around the same time as the infected customer, as well as which staff were working at the time. AHS will then contact anyone who may have sat nearby or came in close contact with the infected customer, to let them know that they may have been exposed.
2.
To keep our business safe and operating. Alberta public health guidelines mandate that we collect this information. Contact tracing data can minimize the impact of infected staff or customers on our operations by allowing us to send home only the staff who may have been exposed, rather than closing for several days while everyone is tested and isolated.
3.
To help end this pandemic. Robust contact tracing data shaves critical time off the process of identifying potentially-infected persons and letting them know that they may have been exposed, possibly preventing them from going on to infect many more people. The fewer people there are spreading the disease, the easier it is to wipe out, or at least return to some sort of “normal” life without lockdowns.
What Do We Do With Contact Tracing Data?
We store this data for at least 2 weeks and no longer than 6 weeks, after which time the data is of little use for contact tracing purposes and will be destroyed. While we store the data, we do nothing else with it whatsoever unless called upon by Alberta Health Services to provide it for contact tracing purposes.
Some guests may choose to opt into our email newsletter at the same time as they fill out the contact tracing form, in which case their name and email will be stored on our email marketing service (Mailchimp), until such a time as they chose to unsubscribe from emails. Regardless, customers’ telephone numbers will be destroyed along with the contact tracing data and are not used for any marketing purposes.
