(John Moore/Getty Images)
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) Washington State health officials unveiled a smartphone app Monday that allows users to anonymously track whether they've possibly been exposed to COVID-19.
Unveiled in an announcement by Gov. Jay Inslee, the app is available to users of both Apple and Android smartphones. Called WA Notify, it's designed to protect personal information while also alerting users if someone they have been near later tests positive for the coronavirus.
"When voluntarily activated, phones with WA Notify use Bluetooth technology to exchange random codes with the phones of other users they are near," Inslee wrote in a tweet Monday. "It does this without revealing a user’s identity or location."
The release of the app comes on the heels of similar roll-outs by health authorities in states including Maryland, which have unveiled their own apps with similar functionality. A report from CNBC put the number of states that had adopted such measures at 10 as of the beginning of October.
U.S. authorities were slow to adopt such apps compared to other countries, however.
Singapore's government started encouraging citizens to install a tracing app as early as March that works much like Washington's. Hong Kong, which saw effective COVID-19 containment, implemented a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon entry and required each new overseas arrival to download the StayHomeSafe app - and used geofencing technology to help catch violators.