Was Colorados COVID-19 Contact Notification App Successful?
Less than 8% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Colorado since October reported that they may have been infected using a state-promoted smartphone app, but still add It is possible that the case could have been prevented. About 2.1 million people in Colorado have downloaded apps developed by Google and Apple. This app exchanges tokens with nearby phones that you have downloaded and activated via Bluetooth. If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they will receive a usable code Send anonymous notifications to others The person may have been exposed. The app determines risk based on how close the person (or at least his phone) was to another person, how long he was close, and how contagious the sender was, based on the date the symptom began. I will try. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment generated 377,007 codes for people who tested positive between October and mid-June, and 29,183 could have used them to infect others. I reported that I had notified that there was. Some people who test positive do not have the app, while others choose not to enter the notification code. Several Coloradans said it wasnt clear if the problem was widespread, but they had never received a code from the state. At least 103,689 people were notified that someone nearby when they could be contagious tested positive for COVID-19, but how many others were exposed but not notified. Unknown. Many states basically use the same app, with health sector information sub-in. The app was created by Google and Apple, and the two tech giants havent charged the state. Its available for free to Android users on the Google app store, and Apple users using recent models of iPhone have received the option to use it as part of a software upgrade. In a statement, the State Department of Health knew that thousands of people anonymously shared positive diagnoses through the service, allowing other users in contact to initiate inspection and quarantine protocols as soon as possible. I will.  Colorado is proud to be a pioneer in using this technology. We believe that this service will continue to support COVID containment efforts as more and more Colorado people are vaccinated.  Its difficult to compare the use of apps by Coloradans. According to a Washington state survey, nearly 10% of the code was used to notify contacts, but most states dont publish data. Its even harder to know how successful the app was in preventing additional cases. For it to work, the person who got COVID-19 needs to have the app, take the test, receive the verification code and send it. Second, people who may have been exposed must also have the app and follow the quarantine instructions. Its not easy for everyone, as it can mean missing two weeks of work. And, of course, some of the people who appear as contacts arent actually infected, so notifying them doesnt prevent new cases. Colorado has not attempted to quantify the avoided cases, but investigations elsewhere are possible, depending on the number of infected contacts and how well they comply with quarantine regulations. It turns out that the range is wide. A Learn in england It turns out that the app could have prevented 100,000 to 900,000 cases. According to a UK survey, the app delivered about twice as many contacts as traditional traces. This is probably because you forgot who you saw recently or didnt exchange names with everyone. However, the use of the app was uneven. In other words, people in one place were more likely to benefit than in another. People who had great trust in public health Likely to download the appSusan Landau, a professor of computer science at Tufts Universitys Faculty of Engineering, said. However, people with the highest levels of confidence tend to be Caucasian and relatively wealthy, which can make the app less effective for key workers at high risk of being infected with the virus. When the health department performs traditional contract tracking, they usually start by asking if the person can be safely quarantined at home and if they need help getting food and other necessities. ..  Only after they have done some kind of compassionate will they move to the person you may have exposed, she said. Landau said that the app skips it, so people may never know about the support that would help them quarantine safely until they are no longer contagious. She said her greatest success was the combination of the app and the support of users in quarantine. The app can be very useful, but if you want it to work for the entire population, you need to support the ability to segregate, she said. Joanna Masel, a researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, said that the use of apps and other new technologies usually begins with a relatively small number of people, and more people understand the benefits. Spread when you want. This isnt practical for states that need urgent tools during a pandemic, but she said small communities like universities have published some of the best results. Approximately 25% of University of Arizona students who tested positive notified their contacts through the app. The app is not perfectBecause it is necessary to estimate when a person who was recently tested positive was infected, whether people were wearing masks, ventilating the space, and engaging in more dangerous activities such as close conversation. Because I cant explain. Maseru said. Still, studies suggest reducing the number of people who spread the virus, she said. Thats not enough. You need something like a vaccine or mask, she said. The edge is enough to make a difference.