Virginia will publically release a COVID-19 exposure notification app called COVIDWISE during this week. The notification app will be based on the specifications published by Apple and Google in April 2020.
This is the first full implementation of Apple and Google’s system in the US. The app had earlier undergone beta testing by Virginia’s department of health.
The health official says the app will help control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“COVIDWISE is for the public who is concerned and wants some way to be told if they have come in contact with someone who tested positive and is at higher risk of potentially contracting COVID themselves,” VDH spokesperson Julie Grimes said to Virginia Public Media (VPM).
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Officials also say that Apple and Google’s specifications will preserve patient privacy, particularly around their location and whether they have tested positive for COVID-19.
“No location data or personal information is ever collected, stored, or transmitted to VDH as part of the app. You can delete the app or turn off exposure notifications at any time,” Grimes said.
If a person tests positive to coronavirus, they will get a pin to enter into the COVIDWISE app. The department says the PIN will help ensure that app users receiving exposure notifications are actually receiving a legitimate notice.
Downloading the app is voluntary, however, more people downloading the app will help it work better.
“And if enough of the population downloaded this app and enabled it on their phone, we [as individual app users] would have an automated way of figuring out who you [as a COVID-positive person] have been around,” Dr. Danny Avula, director of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts, said in an interview with VPM.
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