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This demonstration shows a close-contact alert from the Bluetooth coronavirus exposure notification app made by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. (Geoffrey Fowler/The Washington Post)
Here’s a phone alert you wouldn’t want to miss: “You have likely been exposed.”
The coronavirus surge is upon us, and your phone might be able to help. About 100 million Americans now have the ability to get pop-up notifications from local health authorities when they’ve personally spent time near someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
But exposure notifications only work if you and the people around you turn them on. Yes, you!
There’s early evidence this anonymous smartphone technology works — but so far isn’t helping very many Americans. In August, I wrote about the first of these state-sponsored alerts, Virginia’s Covidwise app. In the three months since, only 488 people have used the state’s app to send alerts about a positive diagnosis to others.”
