New York and New Jersey governors launched a voluntary, anonymous app they hope will aid in coronavirus contact tracing.
“I am asking New Yorkers to once again come together and use this latest tool, COVID Alert NY, to strengthen New York’s contact tracing program,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
Officials in New York and New Jersey have developed apps that tell users if they were within six feet of a person who has tested positive, and if they were within six feet of a person who tested positive for at least 10 minutes. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware also have similar apps meant to help public health officials track new coronavirus cases across the five states.
“With the launch of COVID Alert NJ and our regional app network, New Jerseyans and residents in our neighboring states can support our fight against COVID-19 simply by downloading an application on their phone,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
Users who download the app must opt-in to receive “Exposure Notifications.” When the app senses a close contact, your phone will exchange a secure random code with the close contact’s phone. The apps are anonymous and do not use GPS data. Instead, they measure proximity using Bluetooth to detect when another phone with the same app is within six feet. A health department representative will allow anyone who tests positive to have the option of securely alerting others who they came into contact with recently.
The federal government has left it up to states to design their own track and trace systems. South Korea, one of the few countries that successfully got the COVID-19 outbreak relatively under control, used apps to bolster their contact tracing system by monitoring new arrivals in the country and those who broke quarantine rules. Japan also implemented an app in June similar to the one in New York and New Jersey.
While tracking app developers insist that people’s privacy will not be violated, most say they would be too worried to use tracking apps. A Washington Post -University of Maryland poll in April found that nearly 3 in 5 Americans would be unwilling or unable to use an app developed by Apple and Google, despite pledges from the companies that user privacy would not be compromised. The polling suggests that it will be difficult to persuade enough people to use the app to make it effective against the coronavirus.
