Apple, Google, team up to trace COVID-19
WINDOW ROCK
Your cellphone could warn you if someone who is COVID-19 positive has been near you.
The method to track the coronavirus using technology was developed by Apple and Google and would work in iPhone and Android cellphones
The tech giants developed it so that governments and health agencies could use it in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus.
According to a joint statement from Apple and Google, the contact tracing technology uses the cellphone’s Bluetooth. Federal and state public health officials would track the virus through an app they created.
Bluetooth uses short-wave radio to wirelessly connect a cellphone to another Bluetooth-enabled device, like wireless earphones and wireless speakers.
Using this capability, a tracking app needs to be installed onto the user’s phone by a government public health official.
Before installation, the person must agree to participate in a contact tracing program, the news release said. Once consent is given, the government-created app would begin collecting and randomly sharing all participants’ information through the cellphone’s Bluetooth.
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For it to work, participants must divulge information about whether they’re sick. Once a participant agrees to release their medical information, the information is fed into the app, showing where the person has been the past 14 days.
Once enabled, the coronavirus-tracking app can notify the participant if they’ve been exposed to someone who has informed public health officials they have COVID-19.
Apple and Google said a participant’s name, address and other personal information would never be released.
“Your device will record and securely store the identifiers of those other devices that are in Bluetooth range for at least five minutes, along with the date, estimated duration of the exposure and Bluetooth signal strength,” Apple wrote in exposure and notifications located in the iPhone Health app.
Apple added that the closer the two devices were, the higher the signal strength would be. The Centers for Disease Control recommends two people must maintain a minimum of six feet.
A notification of possible exposure includes information about how far the person was from exposure, how long they were near the person with COVID-19, which public health officials could then use to devise a plan for the person who may have been exposed.
The coronavirus exposure notification system would be discontinued once it is no longer needed, Apple said.
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