Name: Washington state launches COVID-19 exposure notification app using Google and Apple technology
Brand: geekwire.com
SKU: geekwire-com-5
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Washington state launches COVID-19 exposure notification app using Google and Apple technology

preview

Trending:Ongoing coverage of COVID-19, and its impact on Seattle and the technology industry.Washington state unveiled a new app to inform residents if they’ve been exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19, as infection rates in the state soar to an average of 2,700 cases a day., announced Monday morning, is a free app that uses technology developed through a joint effort by Apple and Google called the . The app takes advantage of low-energy Bluetooth signals emitted by smartphones to detect and remember interactions, allowing people to be notified if they’ve been in proximity to someone who later tests positive for COVID. It does not collect any personal information to identify app users or track their movements.“It rapidly gets the information out to people who were close contacts to watch for symptoms, to make them aware of testing opportunities, to self-quarantine and if they’re infected, to isolate,” said Washington’s Secretary of Health Dr. John Wiesman.Health officials are eager for a new tool to help curb COVID’s spread. In Western Washington, the number of new daily cases increased more than six-fold from September to November. A from King County found that roughly one-third of people who tested positive for COVID hadn’t known that they’d been in contact with someone who was infected and were not linked to an outbreak event.Officials say the app does not use GPS and won’t replace contact tracing or case investigations — work that has been overwhelmed in many areas due to the surge in cases. Local and state investigators will work in support of the app, and the state has hired more investigators, bringing the number to 700 workers.Now the challenge is to make the public aware of the app and get them to install it. In states that have similar apps, adoption rates have been low and it’s unclear how much of a difference the technology will make.But even less-than-widespread use will have benefits, health officials said. of King, Snohomish and Pierce counties predicted that an app adoption rate of 15% in combination with human workers conducting manual contact tracing would still curb infections by 15% and deaths by 11%, said Lacy Fehrenbach, the state’s deputy secretary for COVID-19 response. The app alone could reduce infections by 8% and deaths by 6%.Here’s how WA Notify works.iPhone users can activate the tool by enabling Exposure Notifications in their Settings. Android users can download the Washington Exposure Notification app from the Google Play Store.Update:&nbsp;More than 1.1 million people signed up for WA Notify in the first week, Gov. Inslee .The app’s most important potential health benefit will be notifying people who interact anonymously in public spaces, on a bus or at a grocery story, for example, or when someone who is infected can’t remember all of the places they’ve been and people they’ve been near. Because the app doesn’t track people’s locations, it won’t help identify hot spots for transmission. It will also miss people who don’t have smartphones.Back in April, digital contact tracing was tech’s much hyped solution for helping curb COVID. Seattle alone spawned multiple efforts, including , a collaboration between the ; , an initiative connected to Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and , a project started by with prior experience at Moz, Google, Uber and elsewhere.So why has it taken nearly eight months for a statewide app to get here?While multiple projects launched in the spring, they weren’t immediately ready for widespread deployment. The technology initially announced by Apple and Google required states to build their own apps and handle the notifications. There was no federal leadership for digital notification, and states struggled to come up with their own solutions. In early September, the of the app that was more plug-and-play ready, with the Association of Public Health Laboratories managing notifications.Even as tech solutions improved, Washington still needed to move cautiously in order to protect privacy concerns and address equity issues, Wiesman said. This summer the state convened an oversight committee including security and civil liberties experts as well as leaders representing people of color and other communities who are disproportionately impacted by the virus.With the committee’s approval, earlier this month officials opened a . Some 3,500 UW students, staff and faculty have been using the technology, and researchers report that the test run has gone smoothly.As of last week, 17 U.S. states and territories were operating exposure notification programs. Washington as well as Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, D.C. are running programs based on Exposure Notification Express. In September, California and Oregon that they would also pilot apps using the technology.Custom-made apps are being used in Alabama, Delaware, Guam, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wyoming. Many of these apps still use elements of the Apple and Google system or work with the Association of Public Health Laboratories, which should allow for notifications to continue working when people move between states.Nevada is using an app built by Seattle’s COVID Trace. It and incorporates Exposure Notification Express technology.“In terms of privacy, what Apple and Google have provided is the gold standard,” said Dudley Carr, one of the COVID Trace founders.Carr said the app is performing well. From anonymized data they know that each positive case is triggering two to three notifications. So far 100,000 people in the state of 3 million have installed the app; their goal is to triple or quadruple that number and interest is rising as case counts spike.Washington this week is kicking off a $2 million marketing campaign to publicize WA Notify. Officials are tentatively planning to send push alerts to phones using both iPhone and Android operating systems that would encourage people to install the app. Whether they do or not is up to them.Having any issues with the Android app? Google has set up an email for people who have hardware issues to request advice&nbsp;or directions:&nbsp;Editor’s note: This story was updated 12/1 to clarify that the predicted reductions in deaths and infections in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties was in combination with manual contact tracing. The story additionally corrected the reductions in deaths and infections, which were reversed in the original publication.&nbsp;Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headlineHave a scoop that you'd like GeekWire to cover? Let us know.Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headlineWestern Washington University - Computer Science DepartmentUnited Way of King CountyResolution Bioscience, a part of AgilentMedBridgeMedBridgeSan Jose State UniversityFind more jobs on . Employers, .

Trending:Ongoing coverage of COVID-19, and its impact on Seattle and the technology industry.Washington state unveiled a new app to inform residents if they’ve been exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19, as infection rates in the state soar to an average of 2,700 cases a day., announced Monday morning, is a free app that uses technology developed through a joint effort by Apple and Google called the . The app takes advantage of low-energy Bluetooth signals emitted by smartphones to detect and remember interactions, allowing people to be notified if they’ve been in proximity to someone...

public

Lisa Stiffler

Breaking news and analysis on Amazon, Microsoft, Pacific Northwest startups, health tech, geek life, more. Subscribe to our newsletter: http://geekwire.com/newsletters

Washington state launches COVID-19 exposure notification app using Google and Apple technology

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS