/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fce7b8c1a9ad86b5ef5d005/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=4000&cropY1=203&cropY2=2453&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "California Launches Covid-19 Contact Tracing App From Apple, Google")
Topline
California launched a statewide contact tracing app Monday—making it the largest state to adopt a contact tracing app using technology from Apple and Google— but experts warn that getting enough people to use similar apps across the country has been a challenge.
A COVID-19 testing site staff member uses a pulse oximeter to screen a driver at a drive-up testing … [+]
Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Apple and Google contact tracing system uses bluetooth signals to exchange anonymous “keys” between phones in close proximity to each other, and if someone is later diagnosed with Covid-19, they can enter their positive test result into an app and alert all the other phones that were within six feet of that “key” for 15 or more minutes.
The app is fully opt-in, doesn’t use location data or identify the people users come into contact with, measures put in place to address privacy concerns.
The app, CA Notify, will be available on iOS and Android devices Thursday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks California will have better adoption rates than other states because California has a history of “being on the cutting edge of new technology,” along with an abundance of tech workers and two California-based companies promoting it, he said during a press conference Monday.
Crucial Quote
“I’m very sober about the adoption rates. I don’t expect tens of millions of people, quite the contrary. We’re hoping that they’ll be enough to make this meaningful, but Apple and Google will also be helping that promotion,” Newsom said.
Key Background
Contact tracing—identifying and isolating infected people and their contacts—is becoming an increasingly strained process as local health departments become overwhelmed with coronavirus surges. Public health experts say contact tracing apps can take some of the burden off of human contact tracers, but only 21 states have launched their own contact tracing apps so far. And even in states with their own apps, getting enough people to download it has been an obstacle in making them truly effective. In Virginia, for example, which was one of the first state’s to create its own app, only 11% of the state’s population has downloaded it.
This is a developing story.
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