Photo courtesy Virginia Department of Health
Amid grim headlines related to the coronavirus, Virginia has one piece of bright news — the commonwealth leads the nation in the percentage of citizens who have downloaded a COVID-19 app to alert users about possible instances of exposure to the coronavirus.
According to a Dec. 7 report from The New York Times, a higher percentage of Virginians have downloaded the state’s COVIDWISE coronavirus exposure app, compared with apps offered by other states. As of Dec. 10, nearly 900,000 people had downloaded Virginia’s free mobile app.
Developed by the Virginia Department of Health in partnership with California-based tech company SpringML Inc., COVIDWISE notifies app users if they have been in close proximity with another individual who has tested positive for COVID-19. COVIDWISE launched on Aug. 5, making Virginia the first state to unveil a coronavirus app using a contact tracing system jointly developed by Apple Inc. and Google LLC using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) technology.
