New York and New Jersey Launch Contact Tracing Apps With Exposure Notification API

New York and New Jersey have launched COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on Apple and Google's Exposure Notification technology.

exposure notification cartoon
In a press release on the New York State website, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the release of COVID Alert NY and COVID Alert NJ for iPhone and Android users.

Like other apps that take advantage of the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API from Apple and Google, the two apps are designed to track who people come into contact with each other using Bluetooth, providing a notification if one of those people later comes down with the coronavirus.

As well as launching their own state contact tracing apps, the New York and New Jersey governors said they would join Pennsylvania and Delaware in creating a regional network that will enable the apps to work across state lines.

In the United States, Virginia, North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Alabama, Wyoming, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have launched apps that use Apple's ‌‌Exposure Notification‌‌ API. Connecticut is also expected to launch an app in the next few weeks.

More information on Apple and Google's ‌‌Exposure Notification‌‌ API, such as how it works and where it's available, can be found in our guide.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

Glowtime Live Coverage Article 1

Apple Event Live Blog: iPhone 16, Apple Watch 10, and New AirPods!

Monday September 9, 2024 9:21 am PDT by
Apple's "It's Glowtime" event kicks off today at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, where we're expecting to see the iPhone 16 lineup and some updated Apple Watch and AirPods models unveiled, and perhaps some other announcements. Apple is providing a live video stream on its website, on YouTube, and in the company's TV app across various platforms. We will also be updating this article with live blog...
16 pro

Apple Announces iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max with Larger Displays, New Camera Control, and More

Monday September 9, 2024 11:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max—its latest flagship smartphones—featuring larger displays, an all-new Camera Control button, and the A18 Pro chip. The iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max features a 6.9-inch display—the biggest iPhone display ever. The borders around the display are the thinnest of any Apple device. The...
sonny iphone 16 pro colors

New iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Colors Revealed Ahead of Apple Event

Friday September 6, 2024 5:01 am PDT by
Apple is "shaking up its color palette" for its iPhone 16 lineup this year, according to well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. Early iPhone 16 Pro dummy models via Sonny Dickson According to Gurman, the iPhone 16 Pro models will come in a Gold Titanium to replace Blue Titanium, while the Black, White, and Natural Titanium options that debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro will remain...
iPhone 16 Pro Mock Article

How Much Will the iPhone 16 Cost?

Friday September 6, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 16 series is expected to launch on September 20 and will compete in a quickly evolving smartphone market, and with some notable upgrades rumored, the new models could see price changes compared to previous years. Successive iPhone models always come with new features and hardware upgrades, but Apple typically does not increase the retail prices as a result....
airpods max 2024 colors

Apple Updates AirPods Max With USB-C Port and New Colors

Monday September 9, 2024 10:36 am PDT by
Apple today announced that the AirPods Max are being updated with a USB-C charging port and new color options, including Midnight, Blue, Purple, Orange, and Starlight. In addition, Apple said the AirPods Max are gaining support for Personalized Spatial Audio with the upcoming iOS 18 software update. The updated AirPods Max will be available to pre-order for $549 starting today, and the...
sequoia

macOS Sequoia Release Likely to Be the Earliest in Years

Sunday September 8, 2024 2:14 am PDT by
macOS Sequoia will be one of the earliest new macOS launches in over a decade, likely releasing within as little as just a week. Internal Apple documentation obtained by MacRumors suggests that macOS 15.0 Sequoia will be officially released to the public by mid-September. The release dates of major macOS updates in recent years are listed below: OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) – October 22,...
Screenshot 2024 09 09 at 6

Apple Announces Thinner Apple Watch Series 10 With Bigger Screen Than Ultra

Monday September 9, 2024 10:11 am PDT by
Apple at its event today announced the Apple Watch Series 10, featuring a wide-angle OLED display that is larger than the Apple Watch Ultra, with the company describing it as the "biggest display and thinnest design ever." The Series 10 is 9.7mm thick, which is nearly 10% thinner than Series 9, and it weighs 20% less than the Stainless Steel Series 9. The Aluminum cases also weigh up to 10%...

Top Rated Comments

CheesePuff Avatar
52 months ago

Would save 1000x lives if people would be warned about junk food.
100% agreed, the leading cause of death in the US is heart disease, with the main driver caused by poor diet.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
REBELinBLUE Avatar
52 months ago

Would save 1000x more people if warned about junk food.

100% agreed, the leading cause of death in the US is heart disease, with the main driver caused by poor diet.
No offence but why do people insist on making these fatuous comparisons every time this topic comes up, you get heart disease from your own actions, you can't catch heart disease through no fault of your own just because you happen to stand next to someone in a queue who has it. (Obviously, there are more complicated points about socio-economic situations but the point is you can't just catch heart disease simply by being near someone who has it)

Totally different scenarios
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
meaning-matters Avatar
52 months ago
Would save 1000x more people if warned about junk food.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Morgenland Avatar
52 months ago
I am curious about their app experiences!
The creation of a regional network that enables apps to work across state lines is also a good start there.
Congrats, very promising.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigDO Avatar
52 months ago
My govt’s one also alerted me to an exposure. It was obvious that it happened at the gym, as it was the only place i went to that day, but it was disappointing that it only notified me 10 days after the potential exposure (so I wasn’t able to quarantine soon enough). I understand that this is not an API/app issue, but it highlights that it is completely dependent on the person who tests positive entering this into the app immediately.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JulianL Avatar
52 months ago

My govt’s one also alerted me to an exposure. It was obvious that it happened at the gym, as it was the only place i went to that day, but it was disappointing that it only notified me 10 days after the potential exposure (so I wasn’t able to quarantine soon enough). I understand that this is not an API/app issue, but it highlights that it is completely dependent on the person who tests positive entering this into the app immediately.
It also depends on the tests being turned around in a reasonable time. Both the USA and the UK, and I suspect many other countries, have had issues with test turnaround times in the past. When the UK was testing its first attempt at a contact app, the version not based on the Apple/Google APIs, it was at a time when test turnaround times were so delayed in the UK that the UK Government was considering allowing users to self-declare as positive without a test result because waiting over a week for a positive result would have made the whole thing pointless. I also remember maybe a month ago the turnaround times on US testing had got to the 7 - 14 day mark to get results back from some of the major labs which Fauci was all over the news pointing out how that essentially rendered those test results worthless.

I'm not sure what the average and maximum test turnaround times are at the moment in either country but fast turnaround of test results is a critical aspect for the success of these contact tracing apps assuming that they are all set up to need a confirmed test result before declaring positive. (And the danger of not requiring an authenticated test result to declare positive is that you get idiots falsely declaring positive for a laugh or to deliberately sabotage the system so I doubt that any country/state is going down that route.)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)