Apple, Google build virus-tracing tech directly into phones

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Apple and Google are trying to get more U.S. states to look at their phone-based approach for tracing and curbing the spread of the coronavirus because they build more of the required technology directly into phone software.

That could make it much easier for people to get it on their phone regardless if their local public health agency hasn't built its compatible app.

The tech giants launched the next phase of their “exposure notification” system, made to automatically alert people if indeed they might have been subjected to the coronavirus.

Until now, only a handful of U.S. states have built pandemic programs using the tech companies' framework, which has seen somewhat wider adoption in Europe and other areas of the world.

States must choose if they want to allow the Apple-Google system. If indeed they do, iPhone users in those states will automatically have the ability to opt into the system and never have to download an app. They’ll be prompted with a notification asking if indeed they consent to running the machine on their phones.

For persons with Android phones, Google will automatically generate an Android iphone app for public health agencies that phone users can then download.

The firms said they expect Maryland, Nevada, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to be the first in the U.S. to launch the brand new version of their tool. Virginia says nearly half a million residents have downloaded its iphone app because the state in August became the first to launch a customized pandemic software using the Google-Apple framework.

But state officials have said their application doesn't work aswell outside Virginia, although they expect several coordinating public health agencies to get a national server ready to go before long so other states can interact.

The technology depends on Bluetooth wireless signals to determine whether a person has spent time near other people who has tested positive for the virus. Both persons in this scenario should be using the Google-Apple app. Instead of geographic location, the software relies on proximity. The companies say the app won't reveal private information either to them or their public health agency.

Individuals who receive such proximity alerts will typically be offered testing and health advice to prevent potential future spread. 
Source: https://japantoday.com

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