The state has released a COVID contact tracing app that lets you know if you’ve been in contact with someone who has tested positive.
State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said the app is designed to sense nearby phones, and with that data let you know if you’ve been near a positive case.
“If they do come in contact unbeknownstly, to someone else who is positive then they will get a push notification on their phone letting them know that that contact happened and advise them to take precautionary measures,” said Kanter.
The app requires you to opt in to voluntarily allowing the service to utilize your Bluetooth.
Kanter said the state isn’t saving this information, and your phone will not tell you who the infected person you had contact with was.
“It is completely anonymous, it does not transmit any protected or personal health information, it does not track anyone’s location, it does not feed the state any of that information,” said Kanter.
The service works by recording anonymous tokens from nearby phones and alerting you later if any of those tokens gets reported as COVID positive.
Kanter said similar services are already working quite well in other states.
“It think it is going to be really useful in some settings, I think it will find some use on college campuses and I think other workplaces where it is challenging to go back and do contact tracing this is going to prove to be very useful,” said Kanter.
COVID Defense is available on the Apple and Android app stores.
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