More than 1.5 million WA people have signed up for COVID-19 phone alerts
Technology’s place in the battle against COVID-19 is working, and the Washington State Department of Health has proof.
The DOH announced that more than 1.5 million people have activated WA Notify, a simple, anonymous, exposure notification tool that uses smartphones to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
On Nov. 30, the state announced the WA Notify user alert system that alerts smartphone users if they’ve been in place that might have exposed them to COVID-19. WA Notify uses privacy-preserving technology jointly developed by Google and Apple and works without collecting or revealing any location or personal data.
“By using WA Notify, Washington residents are stepping up to protect themselves and our communities from COVID-19,” Lacy Fehrenbach, a member of the DOH COVID-19 response team, said in a statement.
“The more people who use exposure notification technology, the more effective it is.”
WA Notify is free and can be enabled in iPhone settings or downloaded as an app from the Google Play Store for Android phones. Users can opt-out any time.
For more information, log on to https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/WANotify
This story was originally published December 25, 2020 at 2:09 PM.
