Eatonville High-School in Washington is currently under fire for forcing student athletes to wear ankle monitors to help with COVID contact tracing.
All athletes and coaches, regardless of vaccination status were required to wear “proximity monitors” on their ankles during practice.
The Daily Mail reported, The ‘TraceTag’ has visual and audible sensors that alert students when they are too close to each other, while also collecting contact-trace data later used to identify which students have had contact with other players who have tested positive for COVID-19.
That means it could be used to alert a student if they’d been in close contact with someone who has the virus.
The school submitted a statement to the Daily Dot claiming that the situation had been misinterpreted by the media and that the devices were completely voluntary,
Later on, the statement was revised to note that students could opt-out of the program, but would be unable to participate in sports if they did so.
This is essentially exactly what most mainstream news outlets reported.
The device has been likened to those used by the justice system when a person is under house arrest. Though, it’s worth noting that the monitors can be worm on helmets, or on the body.
The device only has to be worn during practice and is left at the school. Despite these facts, the idea of students wearing ankle bracelet technology seems outwardly dystopian.
Many parents expressed that they would rather their child be homeschooled than forced to wear ankle monitors.
