COVID-19 exposure notification
William Hook on Unsplash

Many U.S. states are still struggling to flatten the number of COVID-19 positive cases, as many health facilities are becoming overwhelmed with the number of hospitalized people.

To make contact tracing easier while preventing the further spread of COVID-19, Apple and Google quickly developed an exposure notification technology for Android and iOS using Bluetooth technology in mobile phones.

Vice President of Engineering Dave Burke has updated on Saturday about the Exposure Notifications System that Google developed with another tech giant Apple. This was done as a way to help public authorities' contact tracing efforts, according to reports.

Burke said that the apps would come out in the coming weeks in the U.S.

The top official also said that 20 states and territories in the U.S. are currently trying out the apps that use ENS, adding that it represents almost half of the overall American population.

He says that they have also bettered the reliability for both apps and debugging tools for those working on development.

Google also said that the Android device's location should be turned on to use the Exposure Notification.

Outside the U.S.

Aside from other U.S. states using the technology, Canada has also joined the count of countries using the exposure notification technology.

Canada's COVID-19 Alert apps, which is both available in iOS and Android, is currently working in the province of Ontario.

If a person tests positive of COVID-19, they will receive a key they can input in the app. This will upload the information to the server, and people they have been in touch.

The people they have been in close perimeter will receive a notification for possible exposure, including the steps they should take.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google have been in touch with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to store codes for positive people. In this way, each state of public health officials does not have to create one.

COVID-19 in The U.S.

The United States has a total of 4.7 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease, with 2.31 million cases recovered, and 157,000 deaths.

Among the U.S. states with the highest number of cases, California ranked first with 516,000 confirmed cases and 9, 397 deaths.

The state of Florida came second with 487,000 cases and 7,083 deaths.

Texas ranked third with 453,000 cases and 7, 515 number of deaths.

As of now, the total number of coronavirus cases is 18,236,624, with 6,096,853 cases.

The United States topped the ranking in several cases worldwide.

Brazil followed them with 2,733,677 total of cases and 94,130 total deaths.

India was third with 1,805,838 total cases, and 38,176 total deaths recorded.

"New Phase" of Pandemic

The White House coronavirus task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, said that the U.S. had reached a new phase in its fight against the pandemic on Sunday.

Birx said that what the people are saying today is different from March and April when the pandemic was only starting. She said that it is being spread extraordinarily in rural as equal to urban areas.

"To everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus. If you're in multi-generational households, and there's an outbreak in your rural area or your city, you need to consider wearing a mask at home, assuming that you're positive if you have individuals in your households with comorbidities," she was quoted in a CNN report.

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