Mobile phones allow for information at a glance about what's important or relevant at the moment. From likes on social media posts to breaking news to food deliveries, text messages and more, those notifications display directly on the home screen of your phone as a utility to mobile phone users.
Now, the State of Connecticut is offering a notification alert system for iPhone and Android to help with providing information about COVID-19 pandemic exposure. The new feature is free to download and use - though it is found the phone's settings, for iPhone and not the App Store. Android users can download the COVID Alert CT App from Google Play. States across the country have also implemented similar technologies to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The setting, once toggled to "on", will utilize the mobile device's Bluetooth feature to, "exchange random IDs with other phones and logging them. The past 14-days of requests to check your Exposure Log are saved". According to Connecticut's Official website containing information about the pandemic, including information about the app:
"COVID Alert CT is a voluntary, anonymous, exposure-notification smartphone app. You will get an alert if you were in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. Knowing about a potential exposure allows you to self-quarantine immediately, get tested, and reduce the potential exposure risk to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others."
Residents can report their positive diagnosis and anonymously notify those who have been in contact with, in an effort to take contact tracing digitally and in real-time.
Mobile devices that have opted-in to the app will alert those who have spent a total of 15 minutes or more with someone who has COVID-19.
Take a look at the latest COVID-19 numbers and find a local testing site in the State of Connecticut's Coronavirus Portal here: https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus
How to set-up alerts:
- Click on 'Settings'
- Scroll to 'Exposure Notification'
- Find 'Connecticut'
- Opt-in to the Active Region of "Connecticut Department of Public Health"
- Visit the Google Play store
- Download the COVID Alert CT app
- Click 'Settings' and turn 'Exposure Notifications' on
(Photo: Getty Images)