The state of Rhode Island released an app that will track the location of users to allow the state to conduct contact tracing of COVID-19 patients.
The app, called Crush COVID RI, reports any location where an individual spends more than 10 minutes to state authorities to make a database of the hot spots where many people have visited. The aim of the app is to identify hot spots and break them up before the coronavirus spreads.
Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said the app was “homegrown” and developed with the user’s privacy in mind.
“It’s going to be a tool that helps everybody in Rhode Island get through the crisis,” Raimondo said in a press conference on Tuesday. “When I started this, I said to the team that I need you to make something that tracks contacts and enables us to keep a lid on the virus, but protects people’s privacy and data in an ironclad way, so that’s what this is designed to do.”
The app features a “location diary” for users to make note of any location they spent more than 10 minutes. Users must opt-in to this feature if they want to see the personal data collected in addition to the general data collection for hot-spot tracking. All of the data from the “location diary” is deleted after 20 days.
Here’s a peek at the app. @GovRaimondo says if you opt in to the location diary, the app will monitor and track of all the places you spent more than 10 minutes. That data is stored on your phone only and automatically deleted after 20 days. pic.twitter.com/DgLzWNHi0D
— Kim Kalunian (@KimKalunian) May 19, 2020
“You can stop recording your location any time you want,” said Chirag Patel, the state’s chief of information technology. “There is absolutely no personal information that’s being stored on the app.”
Raimondo said the app will help the state contain the virus, adding, “We can’t stop it, we can only hope to contain it, so if everyone is on it we can quickly identify hot spots. Even 5% of the population will help.”
