Indeed, Novid did have promise. Po's work should be celebrated.
The problem is that Novid depends on self-report. Self-report is not reliable, or else we'd have seen success around this kind of self-reported contact tracing, which does not model reality accurately at scale.
The problem is that a surveillance network is perfect for this kind of healthcare application, where the balance of power is toward the invisible surveiller and does not depend on the surveilled being compliant.
The problem is that Novid depends on self-report. Self-report is not reliable, or else we'd have seen success around this kind of self-reported contact tracing, which does not model reality accurately at scale.
The problem is that a surveillance network is perfect for this kind of healthcare application, where the balance of power is toward the invisible surveiller and does not depend on the surveilled being compliant.