Finally, Google-Apple COVID iphone app tech released, 22 countries set to build onto it
Apple and Google on Wednesday released long-awaited smartphone technology to automatically notify persons if they might have been subjected to the coronavirus.
The firms said 22 countries and many U.S. states already are likely to build voluntary phone applications utilizing their software. It relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to discover when somebody who downloaded the software has spent time near another app user who later tests positive for the virus.
Many governments have previously tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to roll out their own phone applications to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those programs have encountered technical problems on Apple and Android phones and haven't been widely adopted. They often times use GPS to track people's location, which Apple and Google are banning from their new tool as a result of privacy and accuracy concerns.
Public health agencies from Germany to the states of Alabama and SC have already been waiting to utilize the Apple-Google model, while other governments have said the tech giants' privacy restrictions is a hindrance because public health workers will have no access to the data.
The companies said they're not trying to displace contact tracing, a pillar of infection control which involves trained public health staff reaching out to persons and also require been subjected to an infected person. However they said their automatic exposure notification system can augment that process and slow the spread of COVID-19 by virus carriers who are interacting with strangers and aren't yet showing symptoms.
The identity of app users will be protected by encryption and anonymous identifier beacons that change frequently.
User adoption is paramount to success and we believe these strong privacy protections are also the best way to encourage utilization of these apps, the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The statement Wednesday also included remarks from state officials in North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina signaling that they intend to use it.
"We invite other states to become listed on us in leveraging smartphone technologies to strengthen existing contact tracing efforts, which are critical to getting communities and economies back ready to go, said North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican.
North Dakota had already launched a location-tracking app that about 4% of state residents are using, higher than other U.S. states with similar software but falling far short of the participation rate that experts say is required to make such technology useful.
Tim Brookins, the CEO of ProudCrowd, a startup that developed North Dakota's app, said Wednesday that North Dakotans will now be asked to download two complementary software his model, to help public health staff track where COVID-19 patients have been, and the Apple-Google model, to privately notify persons who may have been subjected to the virus.
