PA To Launch Virus-Tracking Smartphone App: What To Know

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania will roll out a new coronavirus tracking smartphone app in September.

State health officials say they hope the app, called COVID Alert PA, will help stop the spread of COVID-19 by identifying close contacts so they can quarantine.

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Tuesday she was "very pleased" to announce the state would soon have the app, which uses Bluetooth technology to let a person know if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. The technology does not reveal identities or locations, she said.

Pennsylvania has partnered with experts at MIT and University of Pennsylvania to develop the app, which Levine said will be "very easy to use."

The app will not replace the more than 1,200 contact tracers hired by the state to notify residents of exposure to close contacts with coronavirus, she said. Rather it will "enhance" the efforts by contact tracers.

"Sometimes it is difficult to recount every step in your day and who you may have spent more than 15 minutes with," Levine said.

That's where the COVID Alert PA app comes in: it will distribute notifications based on technology that measures time and distance. If you have been in close contact — 6 feet or closer — for 15 minutes or more with someone who has later tested positive for the coronavirus, you will be notified through the app.

The app is "anonymous and voluntary" and does not track travel, Levine said. She said the state is "very committed and conscious of protecting the privacy and security of all Pennsylvanians."

Pennsylvania officials are working in tandem with other states to ensure the effectiveness of the app, she added.

More information on how to download and use the app is expected ahead of its official debut.

The state added 735 additional positive cases Monday, bringing the total to 125,579. Thirty-one new deaths were also reported; there have now been 7,499 total deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania as of Tuesday.