The COVID Alert DE now has more than 50,000 downloads.
About nine percent of people who have tested positive and were interviewed by members of Delaware’s Contact Tracing Team say they have downloaded the app. Among their close contacts, 16 percent told contact tracers that they also had COVID Alert DE on their phones.
“COVID Alert DE is another tool to help slow the spread of the virus in our state,” said Gov. John Carney. “As more and more Delawareans download the app, we know that it is successfully supplementing our contract tracing efforts through anonymous and secure exposure alerts. That will help us keep our transmission rates low going forward – and make even more progress getting more children back to school, and more Delawareans back to work.”
Any Delawarean with the COVID Alert DE app will receive an anonymous exposure notification alert if they are identified as a close contact of a COVID-positive individual in Delaware or three other states. Delaware’s app is interoperable with COVID Alert PA in Pennsylvania, COVID Alert NJ in New Jersey and COVID Alert NY in New York. Users should download the application in the state where they are currently living and expect to be tested for COVID-19. The exposure notification apps are built on Bluetooth technology from Apple and Google.
COVID Alert DE is available in the App Store or Google Play.
The app is not a substitute for basic public health precautionary measures – including mask-wearing, social distancing in public, avoiding crowds and frequent handwashing. Also, those who have the app are still asked to speak with contact tracers from the Division of Public Health if contacted.
