In an effort to more quickly notify individuals when a COVID-10 exposure may have occurred, UC San Diego and a handful of other institutions across the country are piloting the use of a Bluetooth technology-based system that automatically shares when a user had been close enough to someone who has tested positive for the virus.
Called the Google Apple Exposure Notification (GAEN) Express, the tool not only automates notification but does so without sharing who users are or providing unnecessary digital details that could compromise privacy, says Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief information officer for UC San Diego Health.
The tool is part of UC San Diego’s Return to Learn plan for reopening, and its use is voluntary. Users can decide themselves if they want to share a verified positive test result with the app and whether they want to share the information with other users.
“This system augments manual contact tracing; it is not a replacement,” Longhurst says. “Where traditional contact tracing is great for identifying household contacts, friends, etc., this approach can notify strangers from restaurants, bars, college parties, grocery stores.”
An alternate automatic contact tracing system
Apple and Google aren’t alone in figuring out a way to offer COVID-related contact tracing. While their solution runs through Bluetooth and requires that the app be running continuously on a user’s phone, one provider is offering a device-based system.
The Pom Tracer security device automatically and passively keeps track of where students go and who they come in contact with using a discreet wearable along with Bluetooth, for anonymous contact tracing when necessary. The device does not track GPS location or share personal information, but rather it continuously monitors proximity to other Pom Tracers. Once someone tests positive, his or her device information can be accessed so that individuals who came in contact with that device ID can be asked to isolate. This allows for targeted quarantines.
Universities investing in Pom for their students pay per device and then a monthly fee per student per month.
Bluetooth technology uses radio waves to communicate with other devices, such as the smartphones of people you are traveling with on a plane, standing in line in a store or sharing space inside a classroom or residence hall. When a person opts into using the Google Apple notification system, the user’s phone broadcasts a random identification number to other phones in the area. When phones come within 6 feet of each another, they log one another’s IDs — without names or locations attached.
When a person diagnosed with COVID-19 enters a keycode indicating they received a positive test result, an anonymous alert gets generated to other users who have opted-into the notification system.
Members of the UC San Diego campus received an email invitation to participate in the pilot with instructions for how to download (Google) or turn on (Apple) the app.
After UC San Diego, UC San Francisco will offer the system to students and employees who wish to opt in. It’s already in use at The University of Alabama, and UC San Diego officials have been in touch with administrators there.
“It’s likely that we will need multiple approaches to exposure notification in order to meet the preferences and needs of individual Californians,” said Carrie L. Byington, executive vice president of University of California Health and an infectious disease expert, in an announcement. “This is a promising avenue to explore to supplement traditional methods.”
“By some estimates, for every two users of the application there is one potential COVID-19 infection stopped,” adds Longhurst. “We are hopeful this will make a difference in tracking cases of COVID-19 so that all potential cases, especially those that may be asymptomatic, can get tested and isolate more quickly, helping to limit the pandemic.”
Melissa Ezarik is senior managing editor of UB.
