Coronavirus Alerts: Your Phone Can Warn You If You Are Near An Infected Person

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While these apps can’t protect you – they only let you know that once you’ve been exposed – they could prevent other people from getting infected if you take precautions, such as automatic quarantine. , after receiving an alert.

Millions of people are signing up, although these apps are not yet available in many states. Health officials believe alerts could be particularly useful in cases where an infected person has come into contact with strangers – such as on a bus, train, or checkout line – who would otherwise not know they have been exposed.

IPhones and Android devices contain constantly changing anonymous codes that ping nearby phones via Bluetooth – a process that starts once the user chooses to receive the notifications.

For exposure notifications to be effective, Android users must turn on Bluetooth and download the Covid-19 notification app from their state. On iPhones, the system is already built into settings, though users need to access exposure notifications and ensure uptime alerts are turned on.

A close contact alert from the Covid-19 exposure notification app made by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.

When someone who uses the feature tests positive for the coronavirus, they get a PIN from a health official to enter their phone. Any other phone that was nearby in the previous two weeks – usually within six feet or less, for at least 15 minutes – will receive an alert telling the user to quarantine themselves and notify a vendor. health care.

Apps assess your risk based on the strength of the Bluetooth signal (how far away you were from the other person) and how long you were in contact with them.

Where you can get them

At least 15 states participate in this Covid-19 exposure notification system.

They include Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wyoming and the nation’s capital, Washington, DC.

Some states reported a surge of registrations in the weeks after the program launched. Maryland launched its notification system on Nov. 10 and more than a million people have already signed up, said Charlie Gischlar, spokesperson for the state’s health department. He described the app as “a complement to traditional contact tracing and another tool in the toolkit” to fight coronavirus infections.

Colorado, where coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have increased in recent weeks, has also seen more than one million people sign up for alerts since the system launched on October 25. The state is one of many massive campaigns running massive campaigns to educate residents about their exposure notification service. .

Some states have launched apps to alert residents when they may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

“We are at a pivotal time in this pandemic, and participating in this service is helping to keep our families and communities safe and our economy running,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a statement.

Other states, including California and Oregon, have launched pilot programs but their notification systems are not yet accessible to all.

Privacy questions

Is application information anonymous? Experts say yes.

The apps don’t collect data about users or their locations, and there is no way to link Covid diagnostics and alerts to names and identities on phones, Gischlar said.

Unlike a previous, widely touted notification system at the start of the pandemic that used GPS, which tracks a person’s location, the Bluetooth system helps maintain privacy and anonymity among users.

“The fact that they use Bluetooth to send signals back to other phones near you, as opposed to tracking your location, makes them less invasive, and people shouldn’t worry about their location being tracked – this is not, “said Steve Waters, founder of Contrace Public Health Corps, which provides guidance on tracing Covid-19 contacts.

Vehicles are lining up this month at a drive-through coronavirus testing center in Miami Gardens, Florida.

“The process is completely anonymous and does not collect any personally identifiable information, addressing the privacy concerns of previous more invasive contact tracing applications.”

Earlier versions that caused privacy concerns were created by third-party developers. This coronavirus notification alert technology is provided by Apple and Google, and users can refuse to use it at any time, Gischlar said.

Alerts Can Reduce Covid-19 Infections

The more people who sign up for alerts, the more effective they are. Right now, only a small percentage of the roughly 100 million Americans who live in the 15 states use the apps.

But health officials say even those minimal numbers make a difference. In Colorado, officials cited studies that show that even 15% use of exposure notification technologies leads to a significant decrease in coronavirus infections and deaths. The state says their app usage is now 17%.

Some states have banded together to enable pop-up notifications between states, according to Tony Anscombe, a global expert at internet security company ESET. This is especially important in places near state borders where people work in one state and live in another.

The alert system only works on phones less than five years old.

For example, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware have formed a regional alliance that uses a similar system that allows their apps to work across state borders, Anscombe said.

States face certain challenges in disseminating them

The alert system is designed to complement traditional contact tracing and not to function on its own.

But technology comes with its own challenges. For starters, the notification system only works on Google and Apple phones under five, Anscombe said. Not everyone has a newer smartphone, and only a small percentage of those who use the notification system.

Software on iPhones and Android devices detects when people - or rather their phones - are getting closer to each other.

In addition, not all states use the notification system. Many state health departments are already overwhelmed by the resurgence of the virus, and some may not have the resources to develop and maintain an app, Anscombe said.

The earlier GPS-based notification system caused an uproar among privacy advocates and created skepticism about contact tracing in general, Waters said.

“States need additional funding, currently blocked in Congress, to help fight disinformation and increase adoption of this essential tool in the battle against Covid,” Waters said.

The coronavirus pandemic has also become a political issue, with some Americans taking it less seriously than others. For this reason, Waters said, some are also reluctant to use Covid exposure apps.

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