Utah Launches COVID-19 Exposure Notification System

Exposure notifications on iPhone

Utah announced on Wednesday the support of Apple and Google’s Exposure Notification system built into the latest mobile operating systems. It doesn’t require an app installation; instead iPhone users can go to Settings > Exposure Notifications and make sure the system is enabled.

Utah Exposure Notifications

Once a holdout from Apple/Google’s system in favor of tracking via Bluetooth and GPS, the state has switched over. Navina Forsythe, director of the Utah Department of Health Center for Health Data and Informatics:

Exposure Notifications is a form of electronic contact tracing that uses encrypted or anonymous tokens exchanged through your phone and the phones of those around you to keep an encrypted log of who you’ve been in contact with. The service doesn’t track the location of the smartphone user and instead relies on anonymized interactions through Bluetooth technology.

Once residents enable this system and come in close proximity with each other, their smartphones will exchange anonymous tokens that log the interaction for 14 days. A verification code is sent to individuals who test positive for COVID-19 by the Utah Department of Health.

0That code can then be entered into the Exposure Notification system by the individual who tests positive to alert others who came into close contact with them that they were possibly exposed to COVID-19.

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