Industry and workplace characteristics associated with the downloading of a COVID-19 contact tracing app in Japan: a nation-wide cross-sectional study

Tomohiro Ishimaru ,Yoshihisa Fujino ,Mayumi Tsuji ,Kei Tokutsu ,Kazunori Ikegami ,Shinya Matsuda ,Koji Mori ,Hisashi Eguchi ,Michio Nagata ,Keiji Muramatsu ,Ryutaro Matsugaki ,Ayako Hino ,Rie Tanaka ,Kyoko Kitagawa ,Arisa Harada ,Akira Ogami ,Seiichiro Tateishi ,Koki Ibayashi ,Tomohisa Nagata ,Seiishiro Tateishi ,Hajime Ando ,Kosuke Mafune ,Ning Liu

doi:10.1186/s12199-021-01016-1

Abstract

BackgroundTo combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many countries have used contact tracing apps, including Japan’s voluntary-use contact-confirming application (COCOA). The current study aimed to identify industry and workplace characteristics associated with the downloading of this COVID-19 contact tracing app.MethodsThis cross-sectional study of full-time workers used an online survey. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the associations of industry and workplace characteristics with contact tracing app use.ResultsOf the 27,036 participants, 25.1% had downloaded the COCOA. Workers in the public service (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14–1.45) and information technology (aOR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.20–1.58) industries were more likely to use the app than were those in the manufacturing industry. In contrast, app usage was less common among workers in the retail and wholesale (aOR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.76–0.99) and food/beverage (aOR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.70–0.94) industries, but further adjustment for company size attenuated these associations. Workers at larger companies were more likely to use the app. Compared with permanent employees, the odds of using the app were higher for managers and civil servants but lower for those who were self-employed.ConclusionsDownloading of COCOA among Japanese workers was insufficient; thus, the mitigating effect of COCOA on the COVID-19 pandemic is considered to be limited. One possible reason for the under-implementation of the contact tracing app in the retail and wholesale and food/beverage industries is small company size, as suggested by the fully adjusted model results. An awareness campaign should be conducted to promote the widespread use of the contact tracing app in these industries.

Highlights

To combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many countries have used contact tracing apps, including Japan’s voluntary-use contact-confirming application (COCOA)
The purpose of the current study was to identify which industry and workplace characteristics were associated with the downloading of a COVID-19 contact tracing app
The current study identified that working in the public service sector, in the information technology industry, or for companies with 50 or more employees, as well as holding the position of manager or civil servant, were factors facilitating the downloading of the contact tracing app—over 30% of each of these groups had downloaded the app

Summary

Introduction

To combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many countries have used contact tracing apps, including Japan’s voluntary-use contact-confirming application (COCOA). The current study aimed to identify industry and workplace characteristics associated with the downloading of this COVID-19 contact tracing app. A number of countries have used digital contact tracing tools to combat COVID-19 by tracing possible infected cases to prevent the spread of the disease [1, 2]. Japan’s government released a contact tracing app for smartphones—the COCOA—on 19 June 2020 [3]. The COCOA uses Bluetooth to collect information on close contacts— those who have been within 1 m of an individual who has installed the app for a duration of at least 15 min in the last 14 days. No personal information is stored in the central database. The notified person can get tested at the nearest COVID-19 testing center

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