State of Pennsylvania launches contact-tracing app

Pennsylvania has become the latest US state to launch a mobile contract-tracing app to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, just days after neighbouring Delaware made a similar launch based on the same underlying technology.

Like its Delaware equivalent, Pennsylvania’s Covid Alert PA app uses exposure notification system technology developed by Apple and Google to detect if users have been in close contact with another person who later tests positive for Covid-19. The system will send a notification to the phone, called a Covid-19 Exposure Alert, in which users will be given public health guidance on what to do next.

The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BTE) and an application programming interface (API) from Google and Apple to allow mobile phones with the app installed to recognise when they are near other phones also running the application. The app will securely and anonymously alert users who have been in close contact with anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 and also has the app downloaded on their phone. Close proximity is defined as within six feet for 15 minutes or more.

The app is designed to be completely anonymous, so it does not enable any location services or track users.

When the health department contacts a person who has tested positive for Covid-19 to discuss their diagnosis, learn how they are feeling and understand who may have been exposed to them, the public health representative will provide a unique six-digit validation code for the individual to enter into the app. Once this step is completed, the app will alert other app users who have been in close contact with the Covid-positive individual, without revealing the identity of that person or their whereabouts.

The app will also provide users with the latest information on Covid-19 in Pennsylvania from the department’s Covid-19 data dashboard.

Covid Alert PA is a partnership between Pennsylvania and Delaware, the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for Health Incentives and Behavioural Economics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Internet Privacy Research Institute, and Irish software developer NearForm, which developed the Republic of Ireland’s much downloaded contact-tracing app using the same decentralised Apple and Google API technology, and subsequently apps for Northern Ireland and Scotland.

“This innovative solution will enhance our Covid-19 response and give residents another tool to stay calm, stay alert and stay safe, all in the palm of their hands”