U.S. Postal Service Address Sorter Sought for Contact Tracing

The post office’s method of sorting and standardizing addresses could be a powerful tool to track the spread of the coronavirus.

Public health authorities use patients’ electronic health data—phone numbers, addresses, and dates of birth—to trace the spread of Covid-19 from those infected with the virus to people that could potentially be exposed to it, also known as contact tracing.

The U.S. Postal Service’s address formatting database could help doctors and electronic health record vendors sort patients’ addresses in a uniform way through the agency’s free online address tool, now used to make sure that packages are more efficiently shipped ...