Within a few weeks Covid-19 shut down the world in 2020 and teams from arch-rivals Apple and Google teamed up on a rare joint project. They developed a way to log people’s proximity using Bluetooth chips in iPhones and Android phones, enabling apps to be created that would allow someone who tested positive for the virus to anonymously notify other users they’ve been with in recent days. had been nearby. Those notified of the exposure can then isolate, test and quarantine, hopefully slowing the spread of Covid.
Covid is still here, but the great experiment in smartphone semi-automatic contact tracing is now nearing its end in the US, following similar shutdowns in many other countries as concerns about the virus have eased.
On May 11, the Biden administration will stop paying for the two cloud servers that support the US system and power exposure tracking apps offered by individual states. States will now have to fire up their own servers and, in many cases, redesign their apps if they want the alerts to flow. While a few, including California, are considering the idea, it remains to be seen if one will take hold. The California Department of Health has not commented on this story at time of publication.
Virginia, Massachusetts and New Mexico confirmed last week that they will drop out. Wisconsin deactivated its app on April 3. “We were very clear up front that it would go out when we no longer need it,” said Jeff Stover, chief of staff of the Virginia Department of Health, the first state agency in the U.S. to initiate exposure notifications. “By doing what we said we’re going to do, it’s going to build a little bit more public confidence.”
Google and Apple, who said in a 2020 FAQ that they would shut down the system regionally when “it’s no longer needed,” haven’t pulled the plug so far. Apple spokesperson Zaina Khachadourian and Google spokesperson Christa Muldoon say the companies plan to continue supporting state exposure tracking apps that will be updated to keep working after the federal shutdown.
At the height of the pandemic, millions of people in the US activated exposure alerts, as Apple and Google call them. The system came as a way to make the easing of strict lockdown measures safer, allowing people to be near each other without vastly accelerating the spread of the coronavirus. Making Bluetooth Signals The basics of the system were inspired in part by US high school students’ prototype for automating contact tracing for Ebola in rural Africa.
Public health authorities emphasize that exposure notifications are a success, preventing infections by prompting people to isolate or test, and show the potential for public health apps. Critics say too few Americans have enabled exposure notifications to make them truly useful. Concerns about preserving anonymity deterred some people from turning on alerts, and states struggled with limited marketing budgets to fight back. Measures such as vaccinations, face masks and rapid tests made a greater contribution to people leaving home with a sense of peace.
