Tam backs COVID-19 alert app

OTTAWA — Answering criticism that the federal “COVID Alert” app only works on newer smartphones, Dr. Theresa Tam says it’s one of many tools in fighting the novel coronavirus.

The app, released last week, is meant to tell users if their phones have recently been close to a phone registered to someone who volunteers that they’ve tested positive for COVID-19. But it works only on phones released in the past five years or so because it needs a relatively recent operating system. Critics say that will leave out poorer and older Canadians, who are more likely to use older devices and suffer worse effects from the virus.

Tam said she has heard that criticism and understands it, but the app isn’t supposed to be a comprehensive solution to the pandemic.

“It may not be the broadest coverage that you need,” Tam said Tuesday. “But what if, for example, before you walked into a pub, before you walked into a nightclub or places where there may be a bunch of people you may not know, who are not in your specific social circle, where notification is particularly important?”

“Despite these gaps, we need to have a go at using it,” Tam said.

The government said Monday that 1.1 million people had downloaded the app.