Alberta unveils voluntary contact tracer app
New app to track those who test positive and those who were near infected person
EDMONTON Alberta Health has rolled out a new app to help track down people who have come into contact with those who later test positive for COVID-19.
The voluntary app, Abtracetogether, is now available for Android and iphone users. It comes days before the province is set to start loosening restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Although government officials have consulted with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and a privacy impact assessment has been completed, the app is being rolled out before the privacy commissioner has officially signed off, something the government is expecting in the coming weeks.
Abtracetogether gathers less data than similar apps in other countries. Unlike Australia, where media reports say users need to give their name, age range and postal code, Albertans are only asked to voluntarily provide their phone number.
On Friday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said the faster people who may have been exposed to the virus can be informed, the quicker outbreaks can be prevented.
“In addition, these tactics yield valuable data that can help us get a better understanding of how the disease is spread and what underlying factors can contribute to cases of severe disease,” she said.
Abtracetogether uses Bluetooth, not GPS, to note any time two phones that have the app downloaded are within two metres of each other, but it targets contact made for more than 15 minutes over a 24-hour time span. Data is stored on the phone for 21 days.
If a user later tests positive for COVID-19, an Alberta Health Services contact tracer — the people in charge of figuring out who COVID-19 patients may have infected — will call the user and ask them to voluntarily upload the encrypted data stored in their phone. If the user does, the tracer will then be able to call anyone the sick person came into contact with who needs to self-isolate.
Without the app, contact tracers have no way of knowing about strangers a Covid-positive person may have come in contact with or contacts the sick person may have forgotten about, Hinshaw said. The app does not track the user’s location. The only information exchanged between phones is a non-identifiable ID number, she said.
In a statement, information and privacy commissioner Jill Clayton said she thinks Alberta Health has chosen a less-intrusive approach to the app while continuing to rely on human expertise.
“Ensuring this app is voluntary, collects minimal information, uses decentralized storage of de-identified Bluetooth contact logs, and allows individuals to control their use of the app are positive components. People diagnosed with COVID-19 also decide whether to disclose to public health officials the contact log stored on their phone,” she said.
Location data is not collected by Alberta Health or Alberta Health Services and is never sent from your phone to another organization for any purpose.
In a statement, health spokesman Blair Phelps said “location data is not collected by Alberta Health or Alberta Health Services and is never sent from your phone to another organization for any purpose. Alberta Health will not disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent.”
Heather Sweet, NDP critic for democracy and ethics, said the NDP has questions about how data is stored and protected from other apps and operating systems on a user’s phone.
The app was created by Deloitte.