Apple and Google to help states create COVID contact tracing apps

By Maya Shwayder September 1, 2020

-Apple and Google are creating a new software framework that states can use to more easily create COVID contact-tracing apps, which could help states to build and deploy apps that would otherwise take much longer and more effort to set up.

“As the next step in our work with public health authorities on Exposure Notifications, we are making it easier and faster for them to use the Exposure Notifications System without the need for them to build and maintain an app,” Apple and Google said in a statement. “Exposure Notifications Express provides another option for public health authorities to supplement their existing contact-tracing operations with technology without compromising on the project’s core tenets of user privacy and security.”

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Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., have already committed to deploying the new system, according to the Verge. The iOS system will reportedly deploy on Tuesday, and Android’s system will be released later in September.

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