New York and New Jersey have launched COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on Apple and Google's Exposure Notification technology.
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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.
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100% agreed, the leading cause of death in the US is heart disease, with the main driver caused by poor diet.Would save 1000x lives if people would be warned about junk food.
Would save 1000x more people if warned about junk food.
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)100% agreed, the leading cause of death in the US is heart disease, with the main driver caused by poor diet.
Totally different scenarios
The creation of a regional network that enables apps to work across state lines is also a good start there.
Congrats, very promising.
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.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.
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.)