WA Notify tool boasts 1 million users in first week of launch
Dec 4, 2020, 2:47 PM | Updated: Oct 2, 2024, 9:02 pm
The WA Notify tool launched in Washington on Monday, Nov. 30. (MyNorthwest photo)
(MyNorthwest photo)
The Washington Department of Health announced Friday that over 1 million people have enabled WA Notify, a smartphone tool that alerts state residents if they have spent time near another user who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Washington launches statewide COVID-19 exposure notification tool
The tool was launched Monday, and can be used by manually enabling a setting on iPhones and through a downloaded app from the Google Play Store for Android. WA Notify launched in over 29 languages, and is fully voluntary.
A similar tool is in use in several other states, including Virginia, New York, and Colorado. Its launch in Washington, though, saw more users opt into it in the first 24 hours than in any other state currently using it.
For those who have yet to enable it, Washington Secretary of Health John Wiesman urged residents Friday to consider opting in.
“If you haven’t activated WA Notify yet, please consider doing so,” he said. “Studies from Oxford University and Stanford show that the more people who use a tool like WA Notify, the more effectively it will protect our communities.”
WA needs to ‘take strong actions’ to lower risk of overwhelming hospitals
WA Notify uses Bluetooth technology to exchange random codes with the phones of other users nearby, doing so without revealing a user’s identity or location. If a user tests positive for COVID-19, they enter a verification code provided by the state. Anyone who has been near that user within the last 14 days is then anonymously alerted that they may have been exposed to the virus, and that they should take “appropriate action” to get tested and self-quarantine if needed.
The University of Washington tested the tool with students to help inform the eventual statewide rollout.
