NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Residents in Connecticut will soon be able to use an app on their smartphones to track if they’ve been in contact with someone who has COVID-19.
Contact tracing is an imprecise science that takes a lot of detective work, and sometimes memories are foggy. Connecticut officials believe a COVID tracing app for phones could be faster and more exact way to alert people who may have been exposed.
The state is close to a deal with Apple and Google for an app that would use Bluetooth signals to keep track of other app users who come in close contact with you, even strangers on the street.
“If someone tests positive, they get a key that they put into their phone, and then it’s automatically notified whoever the people are that they’d been in close contact with,” said Josh Geballe, Connecticut's chief operating officer.
Geballe said that will allow users of the app to then get additional advice about what they need to do next, like talk to their doctor or self-isolate.
The app would allow for faster, more accurate tracing—but there are questions about privacy.
Officials said Google and Apple have taken steps to guard privacy and make sure app users are anonymous. They said users’ movements will not be monitored.
“It’s all anonymous,” Geballe said. “There’s no location monitoring. Google and Apple have worked very hard on this to make sure all of the privacy considerations are taken care of. And we’ve actually taken a bit of a cautious approach on this, watching some other states go first and making sure the technology’s proven out.”