Apple, Google Unveil Technology for Covid-19 Exposure Alerts
21 May 2020 - 5:33AM
Dow Jones News
By Patience Haggin
Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google released technology
Wednesday to help governments track the spread of Covid-19 through
apps that notify users if they have been exposed to someone who has
tested positive for coronavirus.
The tech giants, which make the world's dominant smartphone
operating systems, jointly developed the protocol, which allows app
developers to use mobile devices' Bluetooth signals to identify
devices that have come near each other.
U.S. states including North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina,
as well as 22 countries, have requested and received access to the
newly released technology, the companies said.
The technology, which was previously released in beta versions,
is intended to complement health workers' use of conventional means
to trace infected people's contacts. The apps may need a high level
of user adoption to effectively track Covid-19 outbreaks,
public-health experts say.
Though Apple and Google are providing tools for developers, they
aren't releasing their own exposure-notification apps.
"We're hoping that public health will find this tool helpful in
improving speed and resources," said a spokeswoman for the
companies' joint effort.
When two devices using apps based on the Apple-Google protocol
come near each other, they exchange "keys," or digital codes,
through a Bluetooth signal. An app user who tests positive for
Covid-19 can choose to share his or her diagnosis with
public-health officials through the app, then upload the keys that
his or her app has sent recently. The app will notify users who
were exposed, so they can get tested.
This approach may help public-health departments detect contact
with strangers -- a type of interaction that can often elude
contact tracers, who must rely on an infected person's memory to
reconstruct their contacts.
Creating exposure-notification technology is a challenging and
unprecedented endeavor, one undertaken by academic researchers and
various private companies.
Apple and Google will prohibit apps that use their protocol from
collecting a device's location history. Some public-health agencies
are opting not to use the companies' technology because of that
restriction, and instead are building apps that can use GPS
location data.
Apple and Google have consulted with public-health agencies
including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Earlier this
month CDC released guidelines for contact-tracing apps,
recommending functionality similar to what Google and Apple have
designed.
In response to feedback, the tech giants have chosen to let
health agencies customize a number of features, including what
degree of proximity and length of exposure constitutes an exposure
event. Public-health authorities may also contact exposed users
through the app, using contact information that users may
voluntarily provide.
To take advantage of the new technology, each state or national
government will commission an app developer to build its official
app using the Apple-Google technology.
--Rolfe Winkler contributed to this article.
Write to Patience Haggin at patience.haggin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2020 15:18 ET (19:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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