As Covid exposure information technology gradually rolls out around the country, each resident in as many as 17 states along with the District of Columbia will now be in a position to send and receive the alerts beyond the home state when they go on to test positive for the Covid-19 or come into contact with someone who’s had the Covid-19.
On Friday, Virginia went on to join Washington, D.C., and as many as 16 other states that have now been using the Ass. of the Public Health Laboratories, which permits phones to “interact with each other” beyond state borders. Meaning the users in the 18 regions will not have to download altogether a separate application in places they’re visiting.
“This is exceptionally important considering the added travel in the holiday season,” a statement read from none other than Dr. Norman Oliver, who is Virginia’s health commissioner.
Google & Apple co-created a technology that uses Bluetooth wireless signals to determine when a couple of phones have stayed nearby anonymously. One user who happens to test positive for a virus can have the phone trigger the notification to other individuals they have gone on to spend time near.
The states exceeding Virginia are California, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Wyoming, & Washington.
In August, Virginia went on to become the 1st state in a country to use the technology. It’s since recorded around 900,000 plus downloads. It’s now the last state to join this national server.
Oregon & Hawaii are piloting an application with a limited community on National Key Server.
In a few states, like Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, and Washington, the users of apple go on to receive the pop-up message by Apple to adjust the iPhone settings to activate the feature of notification. Adoption is quite higher in the places that need citizens to download distinct apps, including North Dakota, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Data obtained via Associated Press from nearly 16 state public wellness departments reveals 8.1 million Americans used the contact tracing medium in these states through late Nov. That pales in contrast to the approximately 110 M residents in those areas. California didn’t have an application available in November.
Covid-19 cases have risen across the States since Thanksgiving in particular, posing a threat to hospitals with limited staff and the bed capacity that has already been occupied thinly.
More than three thousand plus Americans died in one day this week, which’s more number of deaths on 9/11 or D-Day. The country has witnessed over million-plus cases in about five days, and over 100,000 people are currently hospitalized. Since the pandemic’s origin, more than 290,000 people have succumbed to death because of the coronavirus cases nationwide.