Apps built with Apple-Google Exposure Notification API adopted by three US states

AppleInsider

Three U.S. states -- North Dakota, Wyoming and Alabama -- this week rolled out or announced the imminent rollout of coronavirus contact tracing apps built using Apple and Google's Exposure Notification API.

North Dakota's Care19 Alert app integrates Apple-Google technology.

North Dakota became the second state to adopt the Apple-Google API when its Care19 Alert app went live on Thursday. The app, developed by ProudCrowd, is the first to enable communication with contact tracing apps maintained by other states. In July, the Association of Public Health Laboratories announced a partnership with Apple, Google and Microsoft to build a national server for the secure storage and dissemination of COVID-19 Exposure Notification data, a project that promises tracking continuity across state borders. Whether North Dakota's app integrates with APHL's server is unclear.

A second ProudCrowd app will debut in Wyoming on Friday, reports Reuters. Alabama is also set to release a similar app on Monday following testing by University of Alabama at Birmingham students and staff, the report said.

In the coming weeks, Washington and Pennsylvania could also issue contact tracing apps that integrate the Exposure Notification API. Others, like South Carolina, have signaled intent to roll out similar app solutions, but official release dates have not been announced.

Virginia last week was the first state to launch a COVID-19 tracking app using the Apple-Google technology.

Previous attempts to launch apps based on proprietary contact tracing systems in the U.S. have in large part failed to gain traction. In some cases, like Utah's Healthy Together app, the tepid response was blamed on privacy invasive features such as location tracking and the gathering of personal information.

The Apple-Google Exposure Notification API uses random device identifiers -- keys -- to generate temporary IDs that are sent between devices via close proximity Bluetooth communications. By swapping keys, apps integrating the Apple-Google system can track and notify users when they are exposed to others who test positive for coronavirus.

With security at the fore, the solution does not store data on central servers run by Apple or Google, but instead silos anonymized Bluetooth beacons on user devices until participants elect to share the information with an outside party. If and when a user is diagnosed with COVID-19, they can opt to upload a 14-day list of recent anonymized contacts to a distribution server, which matches beacon IDs and sends out notifications alerting those individuals that they came in close contact with a carrier of the virus. Doctors can also peruse the data, if such access is granted.

The efficacy of digital contact tracing solutions is unknown, but at least one study suggests the daily number of infections can be reduced if a mere 20% to 40% of a given population downloads and uses such apps. While uptake has been slow in the U.S., international adoption has been relatively strong. For example, Ireland and Germany are seeing robust downloads of apps based on the Exposure Notification API.

chasm

I can't speak to the Wyoming and ND situations, but I know Alabama has been hit hard by outbreaks recently (coughINEPTLEADERSHIPcough) and it is about to get much worse with the re-opening of in-person schools. While a lot more of a sea change in mentality is needed by the state/city governments and more importantly the general public there to effectively combat this pandemic (according to friends and family in the state, which includes some teachers), I certainly hope Alabama's adoption of the exposure notification app, if coupled with a strong PR drive to encourage people to educate themselves about it and download it, will save lives and needless suffering.

iOS_Guy80

Waiting for new York State to get on board with this app also.

GeorgeBMac

LOL....

We have a second rate app trying to trace infections from a second (or third) rate testing strategy and without a cohesive quarantine policy to remove the few who are identified as infectious from our streets, schools and businesses.

So, what's not to like?   The virus thinks this is GREAT!  It gives it 2 thumbs up!

gatorguy

Would this be a way of handling it George, encourage stronger local enforcement since the Federal Government can't be everywhere and pesky State's Rights prevent some actions anyway.  You've generally said we should have handled it like China whose actions you seem quite proud of. 
https://www.ft.com/content/fd2d8bf8-587a-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1703503427818/

dewme

There will be plenty of time to assign blame after the situation is dealt with. Would any other state or nation have failed to recognize the severity and ease with which the virus could spread? Quite likely because nobody is infallible, cautious optimism can go horribly wrong, and there are some things that defy control. But really, all of this presumptive blaming is a child’s game and serves no constructive purpose towards the containment and mitigation of the existing threat in the moment. 

Once the threat was present all manner of damage control should have been the only priority. If you’re on a warship that has a big hole blown through the hull the captain of the ship is not going to spend one millisecond griping about who or what caused the hole. He or she is going to make sure that everyone under his/her command does everything humanly possible to plug the friggen hole as quickly as possible to to save the ship. The captain of the ship, its leader by definition, is totally responsible for saving the ship once it has been recognized that the ship is in danger, regardless of the situation that led to the ship being put in danger. Doing anything less is a dereliction of duty. 

Leaders of men have to serve in the moment and take action exactly when and where it is necessary to minimize losses and maximize the probability of success. It’s not a child’s game or a popularity contest, it’s life and death. The only thing that matters is action, and playing blame games is as far from action as any human endeavor can possibly be. 

boxcatcher

Insane — it legit doesn’t matter which app you use, you just need any app that turns on the Exposure API.

Such a waste for each state to build their own

GeorgeBMac

gatorguy said:

Would this be a way of handling it George, encourage stronger local enforcement since the Federal Government can't be everywhere and pesky State's Rights prevent some actions anyway.  You've generally said we should have handled it like China whose actions you seem quite proud of. 
https://www.ft.com/content/fd2d8bf8-587a-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1703503427818/

So you advocate more of the half ass, scattered, scattered brained approach? 

...  So, how's that been working out for you?

GeorgeBMac

dewme said:

There will be plenty of time to assign blame after the situation is dealt with. Would any other state or nation have failed to recognize the severity and ease with which the virus could spread? Quite likely because nobody is infallible, cautious optimism can go horribly wrong, and there are some things that defy control. But really, all of this presumptive blaming is a child’s game and serves no constructive purpose towards the containment and mitigation of the existing threat in the moment. 

Once the threat was present all manner of damage control should have been the only priority. If you’re on a warship that has a big hole blown through the hull the captain of the ship is not going to spend one millisecond griping about who or what caused the hole. He or she is going to make sure that everyone under his/her command does everything humanly possible to plug the friggen hole as quickly as possible to to save the ship. The captain of the ship, its leader by definition, is totally responsible for saving the ship once it has been recognized that the ship is in danger, regardless of the situation that led to the ship being put in danger. Doing anything less is a dereliction of duty. 

Leaders of men have to serve in the moment and take action exactly when and where it is necessary to minimize losses and maximize the probability of success. It’s not a child’s game or a popularity contest, it’s life and death. The only thing that matters is action, and playing blame games is as far from action as any human endeavor can possibly be. 

That sounds like the "Thoughts and Prayers" approach to saving kids from being gunned down in their schools.

The trouble is:  after 8 months, we still don't have an effective strategy so the virus rages on -- here.  Elsewhere they developed effective cohesive strategies and brought the virus under control long ago....   China can't even test its new vaccines there because they don't have enough infections to test the vaccines on!   They had to go to other countries like India and Pakistan to test.

Yep!  We're NUMBER 1!   NUMERO UNO!  

.... In infections, hospitalizations and deaths -- as well as in incompetence.

Denial, excuses, name calling and incompetence don't get you very far.  It just kills Americans.

GeorgeBMac

boxcatcher said:

Insane — it legit doesn’t matter which app you use, you just need any app that turns on the Exposure API.

Such a waste for each state to build their own

Had we built a national one 6 or 8 months ago (along with effective testing and quarantining) 150,000+ Americans would still be alive.

It worked elsewhere.  Here, we played politics with a virus.   It didn't work well.

gatorguy

GeorgeBMac said:

gatorguy said:

Would this be a way of handling it George, encourage stronger local enforcement since the Federal Government can't be everywhere and pesky State's Rights prevent some actions anyway.  You've generally said we should have handled it like China whose actions you seem quite proud of. 
https://www.ft.com/content/fd2d8bf8-587a-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1703503427818/

So you advocate more of the half ass, scattered, scattered brained approach? 

...  So, how's that been working out for you?

So you advocate a Chinese-style military fencing of entire neighborhoods and heavy handed police-enforced physical barricading of homes of the sick and potentially sick? How do you think that will work out for you?

GeorgeBMac

gatorguy said:

GeorgeBMac said:

gatorguy said:

Would this be a way of handling it George, encourage stronger local enforcement since the Federal Government can't be everywhere and pesky State's Rights prevent some actions anyway.  You've generally said we should have handled it like China whose actions you seem quite proud of. 
https://www.ft.com/content/fd2d8bf8-587a-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1703503427818/

So you advocate more of the half ass, scattered, scattered brained approach? 

...  So, how's that been working out for you?

So you advocate a Chinese-style military fencing of entire neighborhoods and heavy handed police-enforced physical barricading of homes of the sick and potentially sick? How do you think that will work out for you?

LOL...  No, I advocate responsible, informed leadership -- you know, like other countries have and we used to have.   It worked out well for them -- they controlled the virus and reponed schools and businesses long ago.   Here, half assed, mass confusion did't work out so well -- at least not for those 165,000 dead Americans or for the millions of unemployed and soon to be homeless.