Utah Launching COVID-19 Contact Tracing System With Apple and Google API This Week

[MacRumors]

Utah will officially launch a COVID-19 contact tracing system based on Apple and Google's exposure notification API on Wednesday, according to a press release by the State's health department.

The system will utilize Apple and Google's exposure notification system, which notifies users with the feature enabled if they've come in contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19. Utah is notably one of the few states that initially rejected using the system, and instead opted to use its own system based on less accurate and private GPS and Bluetooth tracking.

Utah's director for the Department of Health Center for Health and Informatics says that contact tracing will enable the state to better manage the pandemic and the outbreak of the virus.

"Contact tracing is an important part of how public health responds and stops disease outbreaks. People who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 are more at risk of getting infected and making others sick,"

Unlike other states which are offering standalone apps, Utah's approach will work without an app and only require{s} users with the latest version of iOS and Android to enable exposure notification within the settings app. In practice, when two individuals with the system enabled come in "close proximity" to one another, they exchange "anonymized 'tokens' that log that close interaction for 14 days."

If someone logs a positive test result for COVID-19 into the system, other individuals who were logged to have come in close contact with them within the last 14 days are alerted to get tested and go into self-quarantine. The system will officially launch on Wednesday, February 17, and Utah residents will receive notification alerts over the course of the week encouraging them to enable the system.

Article Link: Utah Launching COVID-19 Contact Tracing System With Apple and Google API This Week

 

[IllinoisCorn]

Is this the thing they were both working on last April?

 

[obamtl]

Better late than never, I suppose.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Better late than never, I suppose.

The later it is, the more it costs in dev time (assuming they've been trying the whole time), and the less the returns are, so at some point it's a total waste of tax money... at some point, simply having never working on it is a better deal than being late.

===

Why on earth would it be desirable to have dozens of these apps, and it totally ignores that most metros span multiple states. IE, NYC's metro is in Pennsylvania, NY, Connecticut, and NJ. Boston's covers Rhode Island, New Hamsphire, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. So... many millions of people spend a lot of time in multiple states.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Bring it to California. They need it desperately.

 

[Corsig]

Why don’t they wait until the state is fully vaccinated at this point. Talk about being late to the party

 

[SeattleMoose]

Slippery slope.....

 

[nutmac]

Bring it to California. They need it desperately.

California has it already. It was activated in November if my memory serves.

California, along with Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin offer Exposure Notification Express, which does not require installing an app.

Settings | Exposure Notification to add California.

 

[jjm3]

We need this in Georgia! (And a whole-countrywide-USA one would be awesome too.)

 

[inajeep]

Well, they will have something ready for the next pandemic if we don't get a country wide version.

 

[4jasontv]

We used to be able to shoot people who disrespected our honor. Then we couldn't punch them. Then we could not insult them. Last year we were told we couldn't sneeze on them. Now we have to stay home when 'exposed'. They keep making it harder to hurt others. What is next, regulations on wishing they get what they deserve?

 

[nutmac]

Yeah, right. It's "anonymized" until your app with GPS access realizes it can extrapolate data by comparing changes in local travel behavior across users who visited similar locations. Eventually, someone is going to get an ad for an at-home COVID test before they are notified about potential exposure.

Georgia, along with 11 other states/regions, use Apple's Exposure Notification Express framework built-in to iOS. No need to install an app, which means no mining user data for ads.

 

[jjm3]

Georgia, along with 11 other states/regions, use Apple's Exposure Notification Express framework built-in to iOS. No need to install an app, which means no mining user data for ads.

Really? Hmm. I don't see it available when I try to turn on Exposure Notifications here in Georgia... I get this message (attached).

I also have "Availability Alerts" turned on, and haven't gotten one... Is there not an indication like these when the Express version is available?

 

[mocciat]

Bring it to California. They need it desperately.

Been here a long time. Not one person I know, many of when in Healthcare, have never received a notification.

 

[4jasontv]

Georgia, along with 11 other states/regions, use Apple's Exposure Notification Express framework built-in to iOS. No need to install an app, which means no mining user data for ads.

My point was that the information provided by the COVID service would likely influence behavior enough, across enough people, to make it easy to use GPS logs to identify individuals who received the notification. If your app justifies location information and has a large enough user base then responding to the alert (by isolating) will increase the likelihood you will be identified. Google and Facebook apps would easily be able to perform this and use it to sell targeted ad space for the duration of your recommended quarantine.

 

[IIGS User]

This is a little late, I suppose.

How does exposure notification and tracing work for vaccinated individuals? I'm almost a week removed from my second dose, and read recently that once I'm 14 days past my second dose I will not have to quarantine if directly exposed. At least for 3 months following since this is all the data they have right now.

 

[nutmac]

Really? Hmm. I don't see it available when I try to turn on Exposure Notifications here in Georgia... I get this message (attached).

I also have "Availability Alerts" turned on, and haven't gotten one... Is there not an indication like these when the Express version is available?

View attachment 1731432

Availability alert isn't very immediate. As for Georgia, the article says it will be rolled out this week. My iPhone shows Georgia, but I am running iOS 14.5 beta.

My point was that the information provided by the COVID service would likely influence behavior enough, across enough people, to make it easy to use GPS logs to identify individuals who received the notification. If your app justifies location information and has a large enough user base then responding to the alert (by isolating) will increase the likelihood you will be identified. Google and Facebook apps would easily be able to perform this and use it to sell targeted ad space for the duration of your recommended quarantine.

Apple's Exposure Notification API does not log GPS information.

It gathers anonymized Bluetooth device IDs, which is changed every 15 minutes. Device IDs are shared with nearby iPhones and Android phones, which is retained on the device for about 2 weeks. Every day, iPhone and Android phones retrieve device IDs from state government's website, of patients who logged positive test results (which is done manually by the patient with positive test case ID number). If there's a match and the threshold is met (e.g., 15 minutes within 6 feet), you will be notified.

If you are using Exposure Notification Express app, it is not possible for third party to link Bluetooth device ID to you in anyway.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Increase the chances of putting myself out of work for two weeks, unpaid, for something I most likely won't have symptoms for? No thanks.

 

[LeadingHeat]

My point was that the information provided by the COVID service would likely influence behavior enough, across enough people, to make it easy to use GPS logs to identify individuals who received the notification. If your app justifies location information and has a large enough user base then responding to the alert (by isolating) will increase the likelihood you will be identified. Google and Facebook apps would easily be able to perform this and use it to sell targeted ad space for the duration of your recommended quarantine.

Until iOS 14.5 that is

 

[jicon]

The later it is, the more it costs in dev time (assuming they've been trying the whole time), and the less the returns are, so at some point it's a total waste of tax money... at some point, simply having never working on it is a better deal than being late.

===

Why on earth would it be desirable to have dozens of these apps, and it totally ignores that most metros span multiple states. IE, NYC's metro is in Pennsylvania, NY, Connecticut, and NJ. Boston's covers Rhode Island, New Hamsphire, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. So... many millions of people spend a lot of time in multiple states.

Frustrating. It should have been attempted. Doing something with an American built solution... makes sense. But, because some states are likely more apt to believe their method is a better method than something attempted federally by whomever is in charge, I suspect it would never go far.

There was a big push to have the app used in Canada, eventually available in July in a province, but the rollout to other provinces took a long time, as they formulated ways of incorporating provincial test results in to the system. Two provinces, BC and Alberta, simply put up their hands and said they weren't interested. They like their own provincial methods instead.

If Canada is batting .800, then I could presume a federal app even started last April would still be fighting a similar battle with some if not most states. Then there's that pesky interest in getting people to use the app, and their likely unfounded concern of tracking...

 

[Keymaster]

Bring it to California. They need it desperately.

We've had this in CA for months now...it's the same setup as this, it doesn't have a separate app and runs through Exposure Notification.

 

[jicon]

This is a little late, I suppose.

How does exposure notification and tracing work for vaccinated individuals? I'm almost a week removed from my second dose, and read recently that once I'm 14 days past my second dose I will not have to quarantine if directly exposed. At least for 3 months following since this is all the data they have right now.

Hold on.... if you feel a bit run under, and tested positively for Covid in say a month... vaccine or not, you are still a host (admittedly weaker one) for a virus to potentially spread to others. The whole exposure notification is to alert others that someone you were in contact with for fifteen minutes time out there got a positive result, and put a code in to the app to warn others.

 

[4jasontv]

Apple's Exposure Notification API does not log GPS information.

It gathers anonymized Bluetooth device IDs, which is changed every 15 minutes. Device IDs are shared with nearby iPhones and Android phones, which is retained on the device for about 2 weeks. Every day, iPhone and Android phones retrieve device IDs from state government's website, of patients who logged positive test results (which is done manually by the patient with positive test case ID number). If there's a match and the threshold is met (e.g., 15 minutes within 6 feet), you will be notified.

If you are using Exposure Notification Express app, it is not possible for third party to link Bluetooth device ID to you in anyway.

It doesn't need to. All that matters is that a popular app you use logs GPS information. I am not questioning the value of this service to society. I am saying it's only anonymous as a stand-alone service. Any app that does log GPS will be able to use the influence of the exposure notification to identify if you were exposed... even if you personally don't follow the guidelines.

 

[4jasontv]

Until iOS 14.5 that is

How would a system update fix it?

 

[nutmac]

It doesn't need to. All that matters is that a popular app you use logs GPS information. I am not questioning the value of this service to society. I am saying it's only anonymous as a stand-alone service. Any app that does log GPS will be able to use the influence of the exposure notification to identify if you were exposed... even if you personally don't follow the guidelines.

How would 3rd party app know whether I am exposed or not? Exposure Notification data is off limit to 3rd party apps without EN entitlement profile, which Apple does not grant easily. And you must grant access when using such apps.