The state of California has partnered with other western states to pilot a mobile app designed by Google and Apple that notifies a user when they have been exposed to someone infected with the novel coronavirus.
California and the other members of the Western States Pact — Colorado, Nevada, Washington and Oregon — plan to collaborate with universities to study the app’s effectiveness among students, faculty and staff.
In California, the app will be made available at the University of California San Francisco and the University of California San Diego.
According to the California Department of Public Health, the app uses Bluetooth technology to notify users who are nearing someone who has tested positive for the virus.
The app is voluntarily activated by the user and does not reveal the identity or precise location of the coronavirus-positive user. The app also does not collect, store or transmit identifying user information, according to the CDPH.
“With the participation of the Western States Pact in this important endeavor, our public health officials and academic and technology partners can share experiences and lessons as they develop the Exposure Notification Express application,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
Public health officials believe the app could enhance the capacity of local health departments to conduct contact tracing and monitor the coronavirus’ spread in real time rather than with a multi-day lag due to an incubation period for the virus of up to 14 days.
UCSF is running a concurrent study entitled Covidseeker, which would use voluntarily submitted Google location data to track the virus’ spread.
Google logs the longitude and latitude of smartphone owners with an Android device or Google Maps installed on their phone every two minutes, on average, according to UCSF.
People who donate that location data, which can locate a user within a radius of 6 feet, to UCSF could allow the university’s researchers to monitor who coronavirus patients come into contact with and might expose.
“We don’t just want people who are COVID-19 positive; we also want people who are negative, because we want to know what behaviors are protective,” said UCSF assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics Yulin Hswen.
“This will help policy makers adapt and fine-tune their public health strategies to be more responsive to what is actually happening,” she said.
Location data submitted to the Covidseeker study will be de-identified and shared only with public agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the study’s funder, and the CDPH.
The exposure notification app pilot project is expected to launch later this month, according to California Department of Technology director Amy Tong.
“After reviewing the results of the pilot projects, the state will consider making the technology available to all people statewide, but consumers would still need to proactively opt-in to use the app,” she said.
The five Western States Pact members announced in April that they planned to work in concert to contain the virus’ spread and safely reopen their economies.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis argued if the exposure notification app’s pilot goes according to plan, it could be scaled up across the country to bring the pandemic to heel.
“We should use this tech to our advantage, and the more states and people that participate, the more we can detect and prevent potential hot spots and defeat the virus,” he said.
UC Health executive vice president Dr. Carrie Byington said that the state will likely need to approach exposure notification technology in multiple ways in addition to standard testing and contact tracing for the technology to be beneficial.
“This is a promising avenue to explore as a supplement to traditional methods,” she said. “Fortunately, UC has the capacity to work on multiple fronts in the fight against COVID-19.”
“The Western States Pact”
The Compact Clause (Article I, Section 10, Clause 3) of the United States Constitution provides that “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress,… enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power,..
Gavin Newsom need to be in prison
States collaborate all the time.
So Congress has approved the mutual air Fire-Response help currently going on.
The Compact Clause refers to compacts that would encroach or challenge the power of the Federal Government, such as in times of war, agreements with foreign nations, or interfering with Federal control of interstate commerce.
The Supreme Court has already decided a long time ago, that not all interstate arrangements violate the compact clause. The Supreme Court has ruled that not all interstate arrangements need to be approved by Congress, provided they don’t overstep the powers and authority granted to states.
The Western States Pact does not violate the the Compact Clause. Even Trump has conceded that under the 10th Amendment, the states have the power to set standards and restrictions pertaining to Covid pandemic. If individual states want to coordinate their Covid response efforts, doing so does not encroach upon Federal authority.
The Western States Pact is a suckers bet. Especially when you need Money from the Feds. Newsom throwing in with Inslee and Brown? He should be doing his best to distance himself from their complete failure at running their states. If you want to be successful, hang around with successful people. The rest of the country is laughing.
Excellent idea. I bet we will get all the paranoid government naysayers.
You need wake up ilovepopcorn. Study some history, try critical thinking, connect the dots.
More over reach. Since When did government become so concerned about our health???
Popcorn, you are retired and living in your Rossmoor cocoon – please stop trying to put healthy and young people on House Arrest Cowering-in-place.
No it’s a great idea…to bad trying to form a breakaway government within the united states is treason. Have a nice day
@Sam
If you’d continued reading in Reddit (just guessing that’s where you got this information) or even in official constitutional law sources), you would have found this information:
“In Virginia v. Tennessee, the Supreme Court has held that Congressional consent is only required for interstate compacts that increases political power of the states or encroaches on the supremacy of the United States. Basically, if it undermines the balance of power with the Federal government.’
Anonymous2: You are making a rather big assumption here, that is that whatever the Supreme Court rules is what is constitutional. Aside from the trivial word argument pretending that is true by definition, it ignores the reality. Many court decisions, especially the most important, are ruled 5-4 or 4-5 so that one justice appointed years earlier made that difference. The Supreme Court has made many idiotic decisions and there are lists of cases in which they reversed themselves later. If you want to take partial reversal and not complete, then one source says on average they reverse themselves about once a year. A problem is that the constitution is written plainly enough that certain things are obviously constitutional or not but the Supreme Court with learned years of twisting words comes to a different conclusion. Oh, and your Virginia vs Tennessee was a 6-3 ruling.
Never been to Reddit but nice attempt at undermining my intelligence.
So you found at the bottom of Wikipedia some case law that doesn’t apply..Good for you. I agree with that ruling.
Now explain how the Western States Pact is not attempting too increase political power and undermine the federal government.
Saying that a split decision is invalid is like saying an Electoral College victory without a popular vote victory is invalid: You may not like it, but that’s how the decisions get made.
@To Do List
A split decision is just as valid as a unanimous one.
The Supreme Court was established by that same constitution you cherish, remember?
Other arguments you make or examples you provide, such as rulings overturned by later courts, fail to negate the validity of rulings (unanimous or split decision) that remain standing. These do highlight the critical importance of those who sit on the Court and why the selection should not be rushed merely to serve a narrow political agenda.
@Sam, the Western Pact does not effect other states outside the pact, and does nothing to challenge the Federal government. The Western Pact is specifically about coordinating Covid response, and nothing more. It’s not a pact to stockpile weapons, or to set up an opposition separatist government.
There is also the Midwest Governors Regional Pact, and the Eastern States Multi-state Council, which coordinate Covid response in their respective regions.
Anon2: You provide the best example you could for my point yet ignore the point. Constitutional has two different meanings, one the trivial word definition of what the Supreme Court last concluded and the more interesting of what the Constitution shows. By admitting that the last person chosen as a judge by some political process determines what is “constitutional,” it shows that it is subjective. Those 3 judges who ruled against the majority in your case could easily have been the majority if the previous president was of a different political party. The words of the Constitution did not change, only the subjective opinion as you show. Thanks.
@Natalie
With justice ginsburg gone, I guess we will find out what’s what soon enough when the supreme court starts doing the job they are supposed to be doing. Which happens to be upholding the CONSTITUTION..don’t pretend like you don’t know 🇺🇸
@Sam,
BRAVO! 👏👏
Let’s say it louder for the people in the back.
I always amazes me how some “Americans” get so triggered by the CONSTITUTION. It’s literally kryptonite to democrats. Sorry guys 🇺🇸
What they really want is endless data about you and your contacts via your mobile phones.
I’ll try this again. Do you really want the state of CA to have access to everything you do and think? Do you want them to have that for your contacts (friends and families)?
@twilight~No, I do not want Big Brother watching my every move..we are on a ‘slippery slope’ when allowing the government to track your every move for the sake of health. Soon anyone who tests positive for a venereal disease, HIV, etc…you get the picture..will be mandated to turn on your app for the sake of containment. This reeks of “Orwellian” mass surveillance!
Do you use a cellphone ? Guess what, it’s already happening. Turn off ALL your electronic devices if you don’t want to be tracked. Don’t use a debit or credit card either. Oh, and your Fastrak.
It’s looking very much like Democrats didn’t read Orwell as fiction as much as they read it for their party’s action plan.
Leave my Governor alone. He is doing the best ever and I am thankful we have an educated person in charge. What do you want a Trump like person in charge. Heaven forbid. Perhaps you need to move outa here.
oh no! somebody has flipped their wig from too much microwave popcorn!
Wrong Popcorn.
We will NOT be leaving. I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating…..we’ve ALL witnessed the lawlessness of blue states. But hey, at least you are SAFE in your gated community…..be careful – the ones you defend will acuse you of “privilege”.
@ilovepopcorn
Leave my President alone. He is doing the best ever and I am thankful we have an educated person in charge. What do you want? A Newsom-like person in charge? Heaven forbid. Perhaps you need to move outa the United States.
See how easy that works?
Newsom educated? Something tells me his wealthy family bought him that law degree just like they bought his way into politics.
Great conversation starter @ilovepopcorn
Ignorance is truly bliss……. Gavin Newsome is the worst thing that could have ever happened to the state. The same guy that was having an affair with his best friend’s wife and lied about it.
@WhoDatGurl
Saying it again for the people in the back:
“In Virginia v. Tennessee, the Supreme Court has held that Congressional consent is only required for interstate compacts that increases political power of the states or encroaches on the supremacy of the United States. Basically, if it undermines the balance of power with the Federal government.”
How does an app know if someone has been exposed to the virus? Not only that, what a stigma this will cause. If a person was exposed 9 months ago does the app consider them a possible contaminant?
Nope, no way , no thanks.
My dear ilovepopcorn. An educated person is not necessarily an intelligent person, or even a leader. The truth is, the new normal for California is burning the beautiful countryside every summer until the rains come. Surely the alphabet stew media has covered some of this. In any case, for two years now we have suffered weeks of debilitating Smokey poisoned air.
Not to mention Newsoms lockdown of small business, beaches and schools. Meanwhile his mentor (Aunt Pelosi) ate her way through China town while our President recommended isolation and quarantine before we knew the scope of covid-19. Trump was ahead of everyone. Meanwhile Gavin is promising huge hikes in taxation because of his mismanagement of tens of BILLIONS public funds of which a large portion is going to ILLEGAL aliens… Rather than helping California residents and their children.
The lemmings all voted for him. And whatever happens I’m sure they will likely do it again. It doesn’t matter what these democratic criminals do. They will always be forgiven by their blindly loyal constituents. And the state of California will continue its downward spiral until the only thing left here are welfare recipients and trust fund babies.
It’s a very Orwellian idea, especially if you came close to someone who falsely tested positive they tell you to quarantine for two weeks. However you do need to activate it to work. I have one old Android phone which just sits at home to take my old landline calls (mostly robocalls) so it would be funny if it every got a report.
great! how long until this app gets hacked and everything they have shows up online? cheap a$$ state, then again how much do we pay in taxes? heck how much will we pay if prop 15 passes?
#HellNoOnProp15
My bet is all the money going to someone close to Gavin Newsom, creating an app that half works and after many launch attempts will just fail and the whole thing be scrapped. All the money gone without a trace and nobody held accountable because everyone in the state is just relieved it’s gone. That’s if the feds don’t declare it UNCONSTITUTIONAL first.
This is probably the same app and assistance that was offered to the British Government months ago. They turned it down in favour of doing their own thing. No app has materialized yet. Track and trace has been a spectacular failure in most countries.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry about this appearing anytime soon. I’d be more worried about what is actually running on your phone RIGHT NOW 😮
Being an app developer I downloaded the source to the tracer apps a few months back. Most of it has to do with figuring out where the tracer phone is in relation to another phone by Bluetooth. Only a few states developed the apps. In an age of privacy concerns on mobile devices the idea didn’t seem to be well received.
I’m glad I have a flip-phone.
To any one out there who has been targeted or stalked, I sincerely recommend turning OFF your cell phone. This is an invasion. A potential
threat. Marxist tool.
WOW!!! Agenda 21!!!
I know. It sounds like a conspiracy theory. If you ever look into something other than MSNBC or CNN, it’s like living in a different country.
Ignorance is truly bliss……. Gavin Newsome is the worst thing that could have ever happened to the state. The same guy that was having an affair with his best friend’s wife and lied about it.
Sign the recal if you haven’t already. It’s picked up significant momentum. We can dump this lemon.
Please post the recall link, we need him out .
Register and vote!
https://www.cocovote.us/