Apple and Google are trying to make tracking people who have COVID-19 easier with Exposure Notifications Express.
According to sources, they’re coming out with a software update that’ll automatically notify you if you came in contact with someone infected by the coronavirus. Back in May they released the software to 22 countries around the world and this is an expansion/simpler version of it.
The way it works is first, a user has to authorize the system on their phone. It’s Android and Apple user friendly, and it allows iOS and Android phones to communicate with anonymous Bluetooth signals to determine who may be infected. Let’s say a person is infected, they’ll be contacted by their local health authority and will get a unique PIN which, when clicked or inserted into an app, will register the positive result, Daily Mail reports. This will trigger notifications to let people know if they came in contact with this person.
Public Health Authorities have to authorize the system before it goes live in a region that allows it. Yahoo reports Virginia, Washington D.C., Nevada and Maryland will be the first states that will have the software update.