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Los Angeles County and the developer of the Citizen public safety app are partnering to use the technology to fight the spread of COVID-19 through contact tracing.
The app, called Citizen SafePass, is able track symptoms and find testing sites, according to NBC Los Angeles. It also uses Bluetooth for contact tracing and notifies the user if they’ve been exposed to someone who later tests positive for coronavirus.
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the SafePass contact tracing app is a valuable tool for the county’s existing program, NBC Los Angeles reported. The program has deployed 2,600 contact tracers; they have completed nearly 195,000 contact tracing interviews.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the app increases accessibility to coronavirus contact tracing efforts, according to a CBS Los Angeles report.
Not only is SafePass able to provide updates about coronavirus cases in L.A. County as a whole, but also in individual cities.
Garcetti and Barger also assured the public regarding patients’ privacy.
“It never identifies the person who has tested positive,” Garcetti said.
“Everyone’s information remains anonymous and encrypted,” Barger said, according to Deadline.
Citizen says users’ personal data is deleted after 30 days; it is deleted within 24 hours after someone stops using the service, Deadline reported.
Citizen also promises it will not sell users’ data to third-party service providers or government agencies.
“Your name, location data, and personal information will never be shared with anyone, unless you expressly consent,” Citizen says on its website. “The only information ever shared is anonymized aggregate data to help identify COVID-19 hot spots. No names or personal information will be shared.”
Citizen’s website says the app can be used to help inform people’s decisions about what activities are safe: They can find out early if they’re at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, whether it’s safe to spend time with friends and whether they’re safe if they’re back at work among coworkers.
Users will also be able to know when to be “extra cautious” if they live, work or spend time with high-risk individuals, such as those who are immunocompromised.
SafePass users can also order at-home test kits, find nearby test sites and submit their test results through the app, Citizen’s website says.
Citizen says the app’s contact tracing functionality is opt-in only.
iOS users can disable it at the bottom of their SafePass. Android users can turn off SafePass in the Citizen app settings.
The app’s symptom tracking involves a short quiz that helps users determine whether they’ve experienced COVID-19 symptoms.
“The goal is to help you understand and determine what options you have, if you’ve indicated that you are symptomatic,” the Citizen website says.
The tracker’s information is based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resources, as well as input from municipalities and health organizations.
Users who receive a potential exposure notification between Aug. 13 and Nov. 13, 2020, can have the cost of their COVID-19 test reimbursed by Citizen through its testing partner, Phosphorous, while supplies last, the company says.
Anyone who receives a COVID-19 exposure notification is provided with a list of testing sites in their area.
When the Citizen SafePass app first launched in early 2019, it was more for pushing out consumer information rather than collecting it, according to Deadline. The Citizen team monitored information such as emergency scanner traffic and sent push notifications to users within a certain radius of an incident.
Citizen CEO Andrew Frame said about 1 million people in L.A. County have the app, Deadline reported.
According to ABC7, Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments, are also participating in the SafePass partnership.
While COVID-19 numbers have fallen recently in Los Angeles, Garcetti said that with flu season on the way, SafePass could be an invaluable tool when it comes to combating any increase that may occur, Deadline reported.
The first coronavirus contact tracing app in the U.S. launched in early August in Virginia.
That app, COVIDWISE, uses technology from both Google and Apple. It also uses Bluetooth to notify users who may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
“SafePass, which can be activated through the Citizen app, will support our collective efforts to keep our residents safe and help us move forward in our recovery journey and continue with reopening,” Barger said at a Wednesday news conference, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Citizen SafePass is free and available now for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
In related coronavirus news, more than 1 million people in England and Wales have downloaded a coronavirus contact tracing app within the initial release date, but many are already reporting problems.
Will you use a contact tracing app if it’s available in your area? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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One thought on LA County, Citizen SafePass Partner On Coronavirus Contact Tracing
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