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Utah launches support for Exposure Notification system built into Apple, Google mobile operating systems

If you’re in Utah, this should come in handy.

That state of Utah announced on Wednesday that it would support the Exposure Notification system built into Apple’s and Google’s latest operating systems. The feature doesn’t require an app installation; instead iPhone users can go to Settings > Exposure Notifications and make sure the system is enabled.

Once a holdout from Apple/Google’s system in favor of tracking via Bluetooth and GPS, the state has switched over. Navina Forsythe, director of the Utah Department of Health Center for Health Data and Informatics:

Exposure Notifications is a form of electronic contact tracing that uses encrypted or anonymous tokens exchanged through your phone and the phones of those around you to keep an encrypted log of who you’ve been in contact with. The service doesn’t track the location of the smartphone user and instead relies on anonymized interactions through Bluetooth technology.

Once the system is enabled, should users come in close proximity with each other, their smartphones will exchange anonymous tokens that log the interaction for 14 days. Verification codes are later sent to users who test positive for COVID-19 by the Utah Department of Health. That verification code can later be entered into the Exposure Notification system by the user who tested positive, alerting others who came into close contact with them that they were possibly exposed to COVID-19.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via The Mac Observer and coronavirus.utah.gov