Colorado is offering residents a new statewide coronavirus tracking system that sends alerts to people of nearby COVID-19 cases. In the event someone has tested positive for the coronavirus and decides to add their results a notification will be sent out to people that could potentially be at risk of infection.
Download Addyourphone App
If you are interested in participating in the program and utilizing the mobile app you can follow these instructions:
- Visit www.addyourphone.com
- Download the app from Google Play Store for Android users or the App Store for Apple users
- Tap on the Settings app from your home screen
- Find Exposure Notifications which is in the same grouping as Emergency SOS & Battery
- Turn On Exposure Notifications and click Continue
- Follow prompts to select Country and State
- Review and accept CDPHE’s terms and conditions
- Wait for the prompt and allow CO Exposure Notifications to access your phone’s Bluetooth
- Tap Turn On to enable notifications
How the CO Exposure Notifications Works
After you’ve got everything set up with the app on your phone it is now ready to work on your behalf. How addyourphone works is when it is enabled it works to find exposure notifications. Then two people are in close proximity with one another the phones will exchange anonymized tokens that will log that case interaction for 14 days.
If either of the two parties tests positive for COVID-19 after the encounter and elects to enable the Colorado exposure notification service the other person will receive an alert. The alerts reveals they have been exposed to the virus and instructions will be sent on what to do next.
You will receive instructions on recommended next steps, including info on quarantine and contacting their local public health agency.
Be advised the way this app works tokens will not be associated with any phone number, name, location, IP address, etc. They change every 15 minutes to add an extra layer of anonymity
Colorado Covid-19 State Exposure Alert System Details
State officials worked with Google and Apple set up the addyourphone system, which uses Bluetooth technology to share anonymous tokens with other phones.
The Colorado COVID-19 Notification System is a free service offered via app that alerts participants that have been in proximity long enough with someone that has been infected with COVID-19.
These type of systems are useful to help curb the spread of the virus. Studies have shown that if 15% of the population utilizes this technology there could be a drop in infections by 8% and deaths by 6%
Opt in to the notification system voluntarily
***the system will generate an anonymous token for your device
***these tokens can’t be used to identify you or your location, they change every 10-20 minutes
Your phone and the phones around you will work in the background without draining your battery or data
On a daily basis your phone downloads a list of all the anonymous tokens with positive Covid-19 cases and checks them against the list of anonymous tokens it has encountered in the last 14 days
If there’s a match the app will notify you with further instructions from your public health authority on how to keep you and the people around you safe
Reference
www.addyourphone.com