Edmonds Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

Gov. Jay Inslee, along with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), on Nov. 30 announced the launch of WA Notify, an anonymous exposure notification tool to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

The state Department of Health reported a total of 167,216 confirmed cases as of 11:59 p.m. Nov. 30. There have been 2,805 COVID-19 deaths in Washington.

By adding WA Notify to their smartphones, Washington residents will be alerted if they spent time near another WA Notify user who later tests positive for COVID-19.

WA Notify uses privacy-preserving technology jointly developed by Google and Apple and works without collecting or revealing any location or personal data.

"Secure, private, and anonymous exposure notification technology is an important tool for Washington," Inslee said in a news release.

"We've deployed WA Notify in 29 languages so as many Washington residents as possible can protect themselves, their loved ones, and their communities. I encourage everyone to start using WA Notify today so we can continue to work together to contain this virus."

WA Notify is free and can be enabled in iPhone settings or downloaded as an app from the Google Play Store for Android phones. Users can opt out at any time.

Several states, including Virginia, New York, and Colorado, are using this tool. Countries successfully using this technology include Ireland, Canada, and Germany.

Info: http://www.bit.ly/3qmnK2y.