The province is testing a new app to make it easier to track whether Albertans could have been exposed to COVID-19. Using Bluetooth, ABTraceTogether allows opt-in users to find out if they’ve been in contact with someone who has been exposed to COVID-19.
Contact tracing is the identification and follow-up of people who may have come into contact with a person infected with a contagious disease.
If an infected person has the app, they would be asked to voluntarily upload encrypted data to Alberta Health Services Contact Tracers. The tracers will then be able to use that information, and share with other app users who have had close contact.
When it comes to privacy concerns, the government says nothing identifiable is exchanged between phones and that data is only collected when an app user tests positive and voluntarily uploads their information.
The province says mobile contact tracing is viewed as a “tool that can be combined with other methods, to keep people safer, open up the economy sooner and move closer to a greater sense of normalcy.”
It’s available for download now on both Apple and Android devices.
Written by: Michael Lumsden, MyGrandePrairieNow