New York officials on Thursday unveiled a smartphone app that can alert users if they have been within six feet of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
The app sends an alert if a person has been in proximity to someone who is COVID-19-positive who also has the app on their phone.
The app, called COVID Alert, is also available in neighboring states New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as Delaware and soon Connecticut.
Larry Schwartz, who has been put in charge of the COVID tracking app, says the data is "completely confidential" and will be made available in multiple languages.
— Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) October 1, 2020
Personal data from users is not collected by the app, which is available for Apple and Android devices.
"It preserves your privacy and no personal information will be collected," said Larry Schwartz, a longtime advisor to Gov. Andrew Cuomo who worked on the app's development.
This is what the app looks like - it also includes COVID positive data in the state pic.twitter.com/STfUfQMJKp
— Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) October 1, 2020
New York's COVID-19-positive rate in the last 24 hours stands at 1.2%, as hot spots of cases have been found in Brooklyn as well as Orange and Rockland counties.
Eleven people have died of the virus in the last day and 612 people have been hospitalized, a steady increase in the last week.