New York and New Jersey launched COVID-19 exposure notification mobile apps in their respective states that officials claim will serve as crucial tools to supplement the effort to trace and contact individuals subject to a COVID exposure.
The apps, COVID Alert NY and COVID Alert NJ, notify users of potential COVID-19 exposure while maintaining user privacy and security.
The states join Pennsylvania and Delaware in creating a regional COVID Alert app network that operates across state lines to stop the spread of COVID-19. Connecticut has also will launch the Exposure Notification System in the coming weeks.
The free mobile apps-available to anyone 18 or older who lives, works, or attends college in New York or New Jersey-are available for download from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
“We have a very exciting announcement that has taken a lot of work and it’s really creative and smart and I think it can make a big difference. This is a technology-based contact tracing app. Testing is only as good as your contact tracing,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “Testing is to identify a person, so you can isolate and quarantine that person and then find the connections from that person, and that’s contact tracing. We have about 15,000 people statewide who do contact tracing, they call them disease detectives. But we’ve been looking for a technology-based solution. And today, we are announcing an app that you can download for free from the app store called COVID Alert NY.”
The apps use Exposure Notification System technology developed by Google and Apple to strengthen New York and New Jersey’s contact tracing programs statewide. The COVID Alert apps will notify users if they have been in close contact—within six feet for at least 10 minutes —with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Knowing about a potential exposure can help individuals quickly make a plan to stay safe, including contacting their physician or the state Health Department hotlines to get more information about quarantining and testing to prevent community spread, officials said.
Officials said the apps are completely anonymous and do not track or collect any location data or personal data from a phone. The COVID Alert apps do not use GPS location data. The Exposure Notification System uses Bluetooth Low Energy technology to detect when another phone with the same app is within six feet. Proximity is measured, but not geographic location. COVID Alert app users must explicitly choose to turn on exposure notifications and can turn it off at any time.
According to the state, as individuals go about their day, the app will use Bluetooth to sense any “close contact”with other app users who are within six feet for more than 10 minutes. When the app senses a close contact, your phone will exchange a secure random code with the close contact’s phone.
If a person tests positive for COVID-19, a public health representative from the local health department will call as part of the states’ contact tracing programs and ask if you are willing to anonymously notify your “close contacts” by uploading your app’s anonymous close contact codes.
Each day, the app will compare your list of close contact codes to the list of codes associated with positive COVID-19 app users. If there’s a match, you will get an exposure alert, along with appropriate next steps to stay safe and prevent community spread like self-quarantining and getting tested.
The COVID Alert NY app will work in conjunction with similar apps in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
COVID Alert NY and COVID Alert NJ provide users with the latest information about COVID-19 in their states, including publicly reported testing data. In addition, the app features a Health Log where users can anonymously record daily symptoms.
“The COVID Alert NY technology complements the work of our contact tracing teams and will speed up the process by which New Yorkers are notified of potential exposure and provided with helpful resources on testing and social services from the state Department of Health. We urge all New Yorkers to take the simple steps to download the app today,” said New York Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker.
