Reportedly Minnesota is using contact-tracing to investigate the social graph of the protesters.

Contact-tracing is a preventive medical activity, like vaccination. According to that report, Minnesota is using it as a front for a criminal investigation. This is a very dangerous tactic.

Remember what happened after the US disguised a manhunt as a polio vaccination campaign? The Taliban and allied Islamist fanatics became suspicious of polio vaccination, and blocked the vaccination efforts for years. Polio is still not eradicated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Would we have eradicated it forever if not for this US action?

This backfire was no surprise to medical experts; they rebuked the US.

Disguising a criminal investigation as action to stop an epidemic threatens the same sort of backfire.

Can anyone find confirmation of the report?