Yesterday, the New York State Department of Health and Tech:NYC, along with Google, Apple, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and a coalition of technology and research partners, launched COVID Alert NY, the state’s official exposure notification app.

In its first 24 hours, the app has already been downloaded more than 210,000 times, making it the #1 “Health and Fitness” app in the App Store! That’s a great start, and we’re optimistic that participation will continue to grow because New Yorkers know the difference this can make. We’ve made huge strides to bring New York’s coronavirus rates down, and this technology will be crucial to ensure that the curve can stay flat, workers can safely get back to the office, kids can stay in school, and businesses of all kinds can move ahead with their reopening plans.

Here’s why a tool like this is important: New York has robust tracing programs in place, with about 15,000 contact tracers working statewide, but even a program of that size needs support to be effective on the scale demanded by the pandemic. (CNBC)

• Hotspots in several Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods are seeing climbing case counts, just as NYC reopens the remainder of its school buildings and begins permitting some indoor dining. (New York Times)

• As tracers work to map those hotspots and other places where the virus may be spreading, the majority of people reached out to decline to provide the information officials need to identify their close contacts. (New York Times)

• The app comes at a critical moment to offer an additional solution to those challenges and to bring information about the risk of exposure directly into the palms of New Yorkers.
  

Here’s how it works:

• Phones that have downloaded the app are assigned a random ID that can be exchanged with other phones via Bluetooth technology.

• Devices that are within six feet of each other for 10 minutes or longer exchange those random IDs. (Distance is determined by Bluetooth signal strength.)

• If a person tests positive and reports it on the app, a notification goes out to those with whom they had close contact in the past 14 days, alerting them of potential exposure.

• The app also serves as a resource hub of daily case count numbers and informs users of the steps they can take to prevent further virus spread.
  

And it’s designed to work by placing privacy first. (New York Daily News) Here’s how:

• It uses secure Bluetooth technology, not GPS, that can only detect when two devices are in proximity to each other, not geographic location. It doesn’t collect users’ data on their location or movement.

• The random ID assigned to your device changes every 15 minutes, and users are not identified to other users, nor is their personal identifiable information shared — not with other users, Google, Apple, or the Department of Health.

• Just like low-tech efforts like wearing a mask and practicing social distancing, this app will become exponentially more effective the more people start using it.
  

One thing we’re proud of: how quickly tech and government came together to make a tool like this possible. New York’s tech companies and workers have played an important role in helping  New Yorkers combat this virus. The general public recognizes tech’s positive impact in these unprecedented times — a recent poll commissioned by Tech:NYC found that 65 percent of voting New Yorkers believe that technology has made their life better during the coronavirus pandemic. We look forward to continuing our work with public officials and community leaders on New York’s road to recovery. 

Be sure to download it for free today — it’s available for free in the App Store (for iPhone) and Google Play (for Android).

Photo credit: New York; statue of liberty in the sunset by cla78/Shutterstock