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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Top Rated Comments
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.
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.)