Contact tracing, when done right, can be a vital public health tool during a pandemic. So to track the potential spread of coronavirus, Ireland’s public health agency, Health Service Executive, developed a contact tracking app that used Bluetooth signals on smartphones to track the exposure of its users. The app, named COVID Green, uses both Apple and Google application programming interfaces, meaning it can work on both iOS and Android smartphones. It keeps a log of all devices that were within about 6 feet of your smartphone for more than 15 minutes, which public health experts consider unsafe exposure. If you test positive, or someone else does, the app uses the log to alert those who were exposed and are now possibly infected.
Photo Credit: Alejandro Luengo
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