People Are Finally Downloading COVID-19 Notification Apps

by Joselyn Kent · December 15, 2020

In the early weeks of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak this spring, technologists pushed ahead an concept to assist convey the unfold of the brand new virus beneath management: smartphones may notify customers who had doubtlessly been uncovered to others with COVID-19, reworking tens of millions of units into the world’s most effective military of public well being contact tracers. Big tech acquired on board, with Apple and Google collectively releasing software program in May that enabled state and nationwide public well being departments to construct such “exposure notification” (EN) apps.

But because the pandemic burned by way of the nation, gradual improvement, sparse public outreach and suspicion of the brand new software program from each states and customers stymied the hassle for months. Over the summer time, solely six states launched apps utilizing the software program; simply 4 extra joined by October. Even in states that launched EN apps, adoption was usually agonizingly gradual, with downloads far outpaced by comparable efforts in international locations like Ireland, the place round a 3rd of adults have been utilizing COVID-19-tracking apps as of November. In Alabama, solely 3% of the state’s grownup inhabitants had downloaded the state’s EN app by late October, greater than two months after launch; by early December, that quantity was nonetheless simply 4.6%. North Carolina and Pennsylvania, which each launched EN apps in late September, every managed to get round 6% of their grownup populations on board as of early December.

But EN app adoption charges in some states at the moment are skyrocketing by comparability, thanks partly to a brand new strategy from Apple and Google. States utilizing the brand new protocol, referred to as Exposure Notifications Express (EN Express) and launched in September, can shortly and simply deploy a primary, pre-formatted model of the Apple/Google-enabled contact tracing apps, saving prices and improvement time. EN Express additionally lets states ship push notifications encouraging residents to decide in, a characteristic that seems to be driving quicker adoption.

Some states that lately launched apps with the up to date strategy have leapt forward in signal ups, providing a glimmer of hope that smartphone-based publicity notification know-how may lastly begin serving to to mitigate the unfold of COVID-19 within the U.S. Colorado, which launched EN Express in late October, signed up the equal of greater than 28% of adults by the top of November. In Washington state, which launched EN Express on Nov. 30, almost 17% of the state’s adults enabled the software program in simply 4 days. Adoption of Connecticut’s EN Express app topped 20% lower than per week after it launched in mid-November. California’s state well being division estimates that 13% of adults opted in inside a day after it launched an EX Express app on Dec. 10. And in Nevada, the place solely 5% of adults have been utilizing an app revealed in late August, the launch of a complimentary EN Express service on Dec. 10 led to adoption of greater than 9% in simply 4 days.

Nowhere is the distinction between the previous and new methods sharper than in Maryland and Virginia. Virginia launched the primary U.S. Exposure Notifications app in August, and slowly amassed customers by way of aggressive outreach in what had been one of many nation’s most profitable adoption efforts thus far; 13% of Virginia adults have been signed up by December. Just throughout the border in Maryland, officers launched the state’s first publicity notification app, utilizing EN Express, in mid-November. By month’s finish, greater than 1 / 4 of the state’s adults had signed up, leapfrogging Virginia’s months-long effort in simply weeks.

“Our delay was somewhat intentional,” says Kathleen Feldman, chief public well being scientist at Maryland’s Department of Health. While Virginia was dashing to deploy a contact tracing app this summer time, Maryland public well being officers put their assets towards conventional contact tracing efforts whereas ready to see how newer digital efforts labored out elsewhere, Feldman says. When Maryland’s program lastly launched, they have been in a position to make the most of EN Express, which was not out there when Virginia launched its app.

Colorado officers additionally deliberately waited to deploy an Exposure Notifications app. “When EN Express became an option, it was clear to us that the technology had matured,” says Sarah Tuneberg, chief of Colorado’s Coronavirus Innovation Response Team. Among the components that helped spur adoption, Tuneberg cites the easier person expertise (on iPhones, for example, customers can activate EN Express of their settings as a substitute of downloading an app) in addition to the truth that the state didn’t have to contract a personal developer to construct its app, and will dedicate these assets towards outreach as a substitute.

“We know that states don’t have great adoption of apps you have to download from an app store,” says Tuneberg. “There was a service that didn’t require us to pay six, seven, eight figures…it just made it the right time for us.”

In Virginia, officers are planning to launch EN Express to complement their contact tracing app (the 2 approaches are intercompatible, and each use the identical underlying system). But different states, like North Carolina, Alabama and Delaware, which have launched coronavirus-tracking apps however the place adoption has been slower than that of many states utilizing EN Express, nonetheless don’t have plans to make use of the newer device. Representatives at Apple say they advocate all states undertake EN Express, even when they’ve already constructed their very own app.

Still, even in states with excessive adoption charges, it’s tough to inform how a lot distinction the software program is making within the battle towards the pandemic. Health officers and technologists usually argue that 15% adoption may cut back COVID-19 infections by 15% and deaths by 11%, a statistic primarily based on modeling revealed by Oxford University and Google this fall. Either method, with EN Express considerably lowering the upfront funding for state governments, it appears seemingly that extra states will get on board. “I think [EN Express] is helping,” says Tuneberg of Colorado. “The funny thing about a global pandemic is that you don’t have a control group, so we won’t ever know exactly how efficacious it was. But it’s not harming anything.”