South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Virus exposure apps seldom used
Smartphone tool fails to gain traction across much of US
RALEIGH, N.C. — Six months ago, Apple and Google introduced a new smartphone tool designed to notify people who might have been exposed to the coronavirus, without disclosing any personal information. But for the most part, Americans haven’t been all that interested.
But just 18 states and territories have made such technology widely available. And according to a data analysis by The Associated Press, the vast majority of Americans in such locations haven’t activated the tool.
Data from 16 states, Guam and the District of Columbia shows that 8.1 million people had utilized the technology as of late November. That’s about 1 in 14 of the 110 million residents in those regions. California’s 40million residents can opt in to the system Thursday.
In theory, such apps could bolster one of the most difficult tasks in pandemic control: Tracing the contacts of people infected with the coronavirus in order to test and isolate them if necessary.
But in practice, COVID-19 misinformation, the complexity of the technology, overwhelmed health workers needed to confirm a diagnosis, and a general lack of awareness have all presented obstacles, experts and users say.
“There’s a lot of things working against it,” said Jessica Vitak, an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies. “Unfortunately, in the U.S., COVID has been politicized far more than in any other country. I think that’s affecting people’s willingness to use tools to track it.”
Evan Metaxatos, a lawyer inCharlotte, North Carolina, was thrilled to learn in November about his state’s tracking app, called SlowCOVIDNC. He downloaded it and got his parents and pregnant wife to followsuit.
But they’re still outliers in the state, which launched the app in September with little fanfare. Of roughly 10.5 million state residents, only 482,003 had installed it through the end of November.
“It won’t work great until everyone’s using it, but it’s better than nothing,” Metaxatos said.
Apple and Google cocreated the primary technology behind such apps, which use Bluetooth wireless signals to anonymously detect when two phones have spent time in close
proximity. If an app user tests positive for the virus, that person’s phone can trigger a notification to other people they’ve spent time near — without revealing names, locations, or any other identifying information.
In states such as Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., iPhone users don’t even have to download an app. Apple prompts users via pop-ups to activate the notification system by adjusting their phone settings.
In these states, adoption rates are higher.
But even in the most successful state, Connecticut, only about a fifth of all residents have opted into this tracking. Last week, Washington said that more than 1 million state resi
dents — roughly 13% of its population— had activated the technology in its first four days.
Virginia’s COVIDWISE app launched Aug. 5 and was the first to go live. Since then, fewer than one in 10 residents have downloaded it, though the state estimates almost 20% of Virginians between the ages of 18 and 65 with a smartphone have done so. Delaware’s app downloads account for about 7% of the state’s population.
All other states analyzed have much lower adoption rates.
New York launched its app Oct. 1. It recently surpassed 1 million downloads, which amounts to about5% of the population. NewJersey and Pennsylvania have seen less use, with a 4% download rate.
Adoption is even lower
inWyoming, NorthDakota, Michigan, Nevada and Alabama, with users representing only 1% to 3% of their state populations. The apps, which are free, can be found in Apple’s app store and the Google Play store for Android devices; they’re also typically available on state health departmentwebsites.
Irish app developer NearForm says more than one-quarter of Ireland’s population uses its COVID-19 app. It’s been harder to get such traction in the fourU.S. stateswhere it’s built similar apps: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
In Ireland, “all sides of the political divide came together with a consistent message on this is what we need to do,” said Larry Breen, NearForm’s chief commercial officer. “That
debate continues to rage on your side of the pond.”
Germany and Britain have penetration rates similar to Ireland’s; in Finland the figure is 45%, according to data compiled by MIT Technology Review. In France, however, less than
4% of the population is using the official COVID app, which shuns the Apple- Google approach for a more intrusive system that raised privacy concerns and technical issues.
Security experts praise the Apple- Google system for protecting users’ anonymity, but it’s been a tough sell for many people. American users say partisanship, privacy concerns and stigma surrounding
COVID-19 have kept participation low.
A lack of state and federal efforts to boost awareness hasn’t helped.