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BELLEFONTE -- As COVID-19 continues to spread exponentially in Centre County, a tool used to combat the rise was discussed at Tuesday's county commissioners meeting.
The board was joined via teleconference by Meghna Patel, the Deputy Secretary of Health Innovation for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Patel talked in-depth about COVID Alert PA, a COVID-19 exposure notification app designed to help fight the spread of the virus. COVID Alert PA uses Exposure Notification System technology developed by Apple and Google to detect if a user has been in close contact with another user who later tested positive for COVID-19. Users who may have been exposed to the virus will receive a notification to their phone called a "COVID-19 Exposure Alert," along with public health guidance on what to do next.
"This app was released on Sept. 22 -- it's been about a week," Patel said, "and we have over 162,000 downloads of the app ... the technology from this app has been used in many countries."
According to Patel, Pennsylvania is one of approximately a dozen states that employ the technology to prevent exposure to the deadly virus.
With cases of COVID-19 on the rise in Centre County, Patel urged all residents to download the app to their smartphone to help slow the spread of the virus.
"This app is an optional voluntary app for all Pennsylvanians. It's just one tool in the toolbox that has the potential to save lives," Patel explained.
According to Patel, the COVID Alert PA app helps support traditional contact tracing processes. When the health department contacts a COVID-19-positive individual 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 to the individual to enter into the app. Once this step is completed, the app will be able to alert other app users who, over the preceding two weeks, have been within six feet of the COVID-19-positive individual for longer than 15 minutes. This exposure alert does not reveal the identity of the COVID-19 positive individual or their whereabouts.
Patel said that the app does not enable any location services or track anyone. In fact, she said, it is designed to be completely anonymous. The Exposure Notification System works by using Bluetooth Low Energy technology, which allows phones with the app to recognize when it is close to another phone.
"Bluetooth does not collect any information. It is just a proximity technology," Patel said.
Chair of the board, Michael Pipe, said that he hopes Centre County residents will make use of the free technology to aid in stopping the spread of COVID-19.
"We just wanted to make sure that when residents see the opportunity to download this app they knew a little bit about what they were doing… if a citizen opts into downloading and using it, there's no personal data (collected). It's just being used to keep people safe," Pipe said.
While use of the app is voluntary, Patel said that the more people who adopt the technology, the more successful it can be at quickly notifying individuals who may have been exposed to the virus and containing the spread of infection. Additional information about the app and answers to frequently asked questions are available at https://www.pa.gov/covid/covid-alert-pa/.