New York and New Jersey Launch Contact Tracing Apps With Exposure Notification API

New York and New Jersey have launched COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on Apple and Google's Exposure Notification technology.

exposure notification cartoon
In a press release on the New York State website, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the release of COVID Alert NY and COVID Alert NJ for iPhone and Android users.

Like other apps that take advantage of the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API from Apple and Google, the two apps are designed to track who people come into contact with each other using Bluetooth, providing a notification if one of those people later comes down with the coronavirus.

As well as launching their own state contact tracing apps, the New York and New Jersey governors said they would join Pennsylvania and Delaware in creating a regional network that will enable the apps to work across state lines.

In the United States, Virginia, North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Alabama, Wyoming, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have launched apps that use Apple's ‌‌Exposure Notification‌‌ API. Connecticut is also expected to launch an app in the next few weeks.

More information on Apple and Google's ‌‌Exposure Notification‌‌ API, such as how it works and where it's available, can be found in our guide.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 With Apple's Own 5G Modem 'Confirmed' to Launch in March

Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Releases iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 With Security Fixes

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
at t turbo indicator iphone 16 pro max v0 8hrh7w5f3w1e1

AT&T Turbo Indicator Showing Up in iPhone Status Bar for Subscribers

Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence. Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476 The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
bug security vulnerability issue fix larry

Make Sure to Update: iOS 18.1.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices. With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...

Top Rated Comments

CheesePuff Avatar
54 months ago

Would save 1000x lives if people would be warned about junk food.
100% agreed, the leading cause of death in the US is heart disease, with the main driver caused by poor diet.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
REBELinBLUE Avatar
54 months ago

Would save 1000x more people if warned about junk food.

100% agreed, the leading cause of death in the US is heart disease, with the main driver caused by poor diet.
No offence but why do people insist on making these fatuous comparisons every time this topic comes up, you get heart disease from your own actions, you can't catch heart disease through no fault of your own just because you happen to stand next to someone in a queue who has it. (Obviously, there are more complicated points about socio-economic situations but the point is you can't just catch heart disease simply by being near someone who has it)

Totally different scenarios
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
meaning-matters Avatar
54 months ago
Would save 1000x more people if warned about junk food.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Morgenland Avatar
54 months ago
I am curious about their app experiences!
The creation of a regional network that enables apps to work across state lines is also a good start there.
Congrats, very promising.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigDO Avatar
54 months ago
My govt’s one also alerted me to an exposure. It was obvious that it happened at the gym, as it was the only place i went to that day, but it was disappointing that it only notified me 10 days after the potential exposure (so I wasn’t able to quarantine soon enough). I understand that this is not an API/app issue, but it highlights that it is completely dependent on the person who tests positive entering this into the app immediately.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JulianL Avatar
54 months ago

My govt’s one also alerted me to an exposure. It was obvious that it happened at the gym, as it was the only place i went to that day, but it was disappointing that it only notified me 10 days after the potential exposure (so I wasn’t able to quarantine soon enough). I understand that this is not an API/app issue, but it highlights that it is completely dependent on the person who tests positive entering this into the app immediately.
It also depends on the tests being turned around in a reasonable time. Both the USA and the UK, and I suspect many other countries, have had issues with test turnaround times in the past. When the UK was testing its first attempt at a contact app, the version not based on the Apple/Google APIs, it was at a time when test turnaround times were so delayed in the UK that the UK Government was considering allowing users to self-declare as positive without a test result because waiting over a week for a positive result would have made the whole thing pointless. I also remember maybe a month ago the turnaround times on US testing had got to the 7 - 14 day mark to get results back from some of the major labs which Fauci was all over the news pointing out how that essentially rendered those test results worthless.

I'm not sure what the average and maximum test turnaround times are at the moment in either country but fast turnaround of test results is a critical aspect for the success of these contact tracing apps assuming that they are all set up to need a confirmed test result before declaring positive. (And the danger of not requiring an authenticated test result to declare positive is that you get idiots falsely declaring positive for a laugh or to deliberately sabotage the system so I doubt that any country/state is going down that route.)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)