How Minnesota's 'COVIDaware' App Keeps Your Privacy Safe
TWIN CITIES, MN — The state of Minnesota Tuesday unveiled its new COVID-19 exposure notification mobile application, called "COVIDaware MN." The app will alert a user if another user they've had contact with during the virus’ infectious period tests positive for COVID-19.
Developers say the app is completely voluntary and anonymous.
"This innovative technology protects the privacy of Minnesotans and collects no data about a user," said Minnesota Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services in a news release.
"If Minnesotans opt in and follow health recommendations when notified of an exposure, we will slow the spread of COVID-19 and be one step closer to returning to many of the activities we miss so much."
The app website notes that "your phone remembers other devices it meets, but won’t identify you to anyone."
The app generates an anonymous, random key for your phone. The keys can’t be used to identify you or your location because they change every 10 to 20 minutes.
Jan Malcolm, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, said the COVIDaware MN app "will supplement Minnesota’s contact tracing efforts, which typically rely on a person to remember who they may have been in contact with or places they have visited while they were sick."
"With COVIDaware MN, Minnesotans can learn of an exposure to COVID-19 even when the exposure involves people they don’t know," Malcom added.
The app uses technology developed by Apple and Google.
Minnesota will be joining 16 other U.S. states that already launched apps based on Google and Apple’s exposure notification technology, including Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Minnesotans can download the free app on the iPhone App Store or the Android Google Play Store.
This article originally appeared on the Southwest Minneapolis Patch
