New Brunswick has joined the short list of provinces where Canada’s COVID Alert app is fully functional.
Residents of any province can download the app and turn it on, but people can only report a diagnosis into the system if they are in one of four provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and as of today, New Brunswick.
There are also some technical limitations. Only phones with at least an Android 6 or Apple iOS 13.5 operating system are compatible with the app.
Unlike other COVID related apps, Canada’s COVID alert does not use GPS or track people’s locations. Instead, the app uses Bluetooth technology, a device to device system that many use with headphones and speakers. When two phones with the COVID Alert app installed and active are in close proximity to each other, they exchange a randomly generated code over Bluetooth.
If one of the app’s users gets diagnosed with COVID-19, they will get a one-time key from their public health authority, and upload it to their app. The app will then notify everyone their phone may have had close contact with in the past 14 days, based on the randomly generated codes.
If someone had close contact with someone who didn’t have a phone with the app installed and activated, they would not be notified.
The federal government says the app does not share a person’s name, address or telephone contacts and does not collect or store any personal health information.
Using the app is voluntary and it’s available for free download through the Apple or Google Play app stores.
Premier Blaine Higgs calls the app an “additional tool to help limit the spread of COVID-19.”
A provincial government release says using the app, “does not lessen the importance of measures such as physical distancing, regular handwashing, proper respiratory etiquette or wearing a face mask in public indoor spaces.”
