Pennsylvania launches COVID Alert PA app based on Apple-Google tech, Hawaii next

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited September 2020
The state of Pennsylvania has launched its coronavirus exposure notification app, dubbed COVID Alert PA and based on Apple and Google technology.

Credit: Pennsylvania Department of Health
Credit: Pennsylvania Department of Health


On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health officially released COVID Alert PA on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. The state first signaled intent to release a COVID-19 app based on the Apple-Google exposure notification framework in August.

"You can now add your phone to the fight against COVID-19 by going to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and downloading the free COVID Alert PA app to your smartphone," the Department of Health wrote. The app is available to download here for iOS and here for Android.

The app, like similar exposure notification systems deployed in the U.S. and beyond, is designed to alert users when they've been exposed to COVID-19. It works by using short-range Bluetooth identifiers to determine proximity to other users with the exposure notification system. All data is stored on-device, and no personally identifiable information or location data is collected.

Pennsylvania reportedly has a $1.9 million contract with Irish software company NearForm, creator of Ireland's COVID alert system, to deploy and maintain the app.

Along with the exposure notification system, the COVID Alert PA features other coronavirus-related content -- including up-to-date case counts from the Department of Health and a COVID-19 symptom tracker. The COVID Alert PA app is also interoperable with neighboring Delaware's COVID-19 app, which launched earlier in September.

Hawaii is also set to roll out an exposure notification app, AlohaSafe Alert, as the state braces for an expected flood of tourists, reports the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Visitors to the islands have faced strict quarantine and no-entry measures since coronavirus outbreak began months ago, but those restrictions are set to expire in October.

In iOS 13.7, Apple also introduced the ability to use the exposure notification system even if a state or regional government hasn't implemented their own app.

Updated with information about AlohaSafe Alert.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 932member
    Got it! Easy enough. 
  • Reply 2 of 9
    neillwdneillwd Posts: 45member
    Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth
    razorpit
  • Reply 3 of 9
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 932member
    “Commonwealth”? Darn so they’ve got zero standing or legitimacy in America since “Constitution of the United States: 

    Article. I.

    Section. 1.

    All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 

    Section. 2.

    The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature....”


    Has anyone told the Phillies? Sad. 


    https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-article-i--2

    edited September 2020
  • Reply 4 of 9
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    neillwd said:
    Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth

    So they've gone socialist?    Kick the bums out!   'Merica ain't no socialist country!   Don't need 'em.  Don't want 'em!
  • Reply 5 of 9
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    " "Four states in the nation — Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania — use the designation commonwealth to define themselves. The distinction doesn’t mean they’re any different or enjoy any advantages over the other 46 states. It simply means they’ve adopted the British term for providing for the “common good” or the “common wealth” of its citizens."

    As evidence that there's no practical difference from a "State" Pennsylvania itself uses the terms interchangeably, ie State Board of Education and State Treasurer. 
    One of our friends is a big Penn State fan, I believe a graduate from there. 
    edited September 2020
  • Reply 6 of 9
    georgie01georgie01 Posts: 436member
    Not an app or service I am interested in using. Wolf’s (PA governor) coronavirus orders were just deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge, who even refused a stay.

    Locking down and tracing everyone is not an effective way of dealing with the coronavirus outside of theory. The better way would have been to lockdown and provide for vulnerable people and then let the coronavirus burn through the population where it’d have a minimal effect. If we had done that, like some epidemiologists suggested, we would have been through this by now.

    But as it is, the way we’re handling it, we’re ensuring it’s going to go on for years since we won’t reach any level of useful ‘immunity’ for a long time.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    georgie01 said:
    Not an app or service I am interested in using. Wolf’s (PA governor) coronavirus orders were just deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge, who even refused a stay.

    Locking down and tracing everyone is not an effective way of dealing with the coronavirus outside of theory. The better way would have been to lockdown and provide for vulnerable people and then let the coronavirus burn through the population where it’d have a minimal effect. If we had done that, like some epidemiologists suggested, we would have been through this by now.

    But as it is, the way we’re handling it, we’re ensuring it’s going to go on for years since we won’t reach any level of useful ‘immunity’ for a long time.
    Yeh, there are wacky judges out there -- far too many of them actually.
    In reality, lock downs & quaratines, testing and tracing are the ONLY effective strategies.
    But, states can't do that by themselves and without national support, they are at the whims of the virus and the best they can do is slow it down a bit.   So, without access to effective tests and tracing, the result is:  almost 1,000 Americans die everyday.   We're Still #1!


  • Reply 8 of 9
    comcastsuckscomcastsucks Posts: 65member
    Quarantines & lock downs don't work. China did quarantines and lockdowns. They have 3 times the number of people in the US. Therefore I bet they have way more than 600,000 (200,000 * 3) deaths.

    What's that?

    They have less than 5000 deaths?

    I'll show myself out.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    comcastsucks said:
    Quarantines & lock downs don't work. China did quarantines and lockdowns. They have 3 times the number of people in the US. Therefore I bet they have way more than 600,000 (200,000 * 3) deaths.

    What's that?

    They have less than 5000 deaths?

    I'll show myself out.

    LOL....  China brought it under control quickly and effectively -- as did many other countries.    Here, we ignored both common sense and science and almost 1,000 Americans die from the virus each day -- over 200,000 so far....  Some would call that negligent homicide.
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