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The contact-tracing app, COVID Alert CT, is state-run and was launched on Thursday, Nov. 12.
The free app is available to Android as well as Apple users.
Gov. Ned Lamont said that the app does not share personal data and that it is not a replacement for the state’s contract tracing system - it's a supplement.
“We’re making every effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Connecticut,” Lamont said in a statement. “This app is another tool to make sure that every resident of our state has what they need to combat this pandemic from the ground up.”
The app works like this:
- Visit ct.gov/covidalertct for instructions on how to download the app.
- Once installed, the app uses Bluetooth to sense whether a user’s device has been within 6 feet of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more in one day.
- If a user has been near another person who has tested positive and is also using the app on their personal device, an alert will be triggered notifying the user that they may have been exposed.
If an app user tests positive for COVID-19, they will be asked by local or state health officials to volunteer the “close contact” codes their app logged while the person may have been contagious. If they agree, that information is added to the app’s database and an alert goes out to other app-users who came in contact with the infected person.
Lamont stressed multiple times in the app's announcement that the digital tool does not share identifying information. Users will be anonymous to each other.
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