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The New Mexico Department of Health has announced the launch of a COVID-19 Exposure Notification System, NM Notify. When activated on a Smart Phone, the app alerts individuals when they have been exposed to someone who has verified that they are infected with COVID-19.
The app uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with other phones that have activated the app. If one users verifies an infection of COVID-19, all users that have been in contact with the infected person within a 14-day period will receive a notification of possible exposure, allowing you to reduce risk for your loved ones, seek timely medical attention, and stay home.
The NM Notify app is completely safe and anonymous, and fully protects users’ privacy. No personal data is collected through the app. The app is in wide use in many states and around the globe. According to Google and Apple data, every two downloads of the app can prevent one infection.
ABOUT NM NOTIFY NOTIFICATIONS
NM Exposure Notifications is a new service developed in partnership with Google and Apple to help slow the spread of COVID-19. By opting in, your device will share anonymous tokens with other NM Exposure Notifications users using your phone’s Bluetooth. If another user you’ve been near tests positive for COVID-19 within a 14-day period, you will be notified. If you test positive, you can easily and anonymously notify others to stop the spread of COVID-19. Tokens contain no personal information or location data and everything is completely anonymous.
NM Exposure Notifications, like wearing masks and keeping a safe distance, is another way to keep ourselves and our communities safe from the spread of COVID-19.
“This is a powerful tool in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19. We strongly encourage the public to activate the NM Notify app on your iPhone or Android phone,” said NMDOH Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins. “In combination with vaccination, testing, and continued COVID-safe practices, this app will help us contain COVID-19 and protect New Mexicans.”
“Battling COVID-19 is an unprecedented global challenge. To get communities around the world back up and running as quickly and safely as possible, public health authorities are building smartphone apps to help with contact tracing. Contact tracing is one of the best ways to stop a virus from spreading. It can take thousands of disease investigators to alert everyone who has been in contact with people who have tested positive. But even if disease investigators do their jobs perfectly, alerting the people a COVID patient doesn’t know or can’t remember, is incredibly difficult. Smartphone apps that public health authorities build can help people at risk of infection get notified much more quickly. But a contact tracing app works best when more people download it. And being asked to download an app, without knowing how it will handle your personal information, might cause people to worry about their privacy. And they may not feel safe participating. That’s why engineers at Apple and Google, have been working together to make public health technology that protects individual privacy, so that people never have to choose between their privacy and the health and safety of their community. You’re probably wondering what that means and how that all works. And we’re going to walk you through it in a second… But, first let’s be really clear about a couple of things:
First: Apps using this system cannot track your location.
And Second: this system does not share your identity with Google, Apple, or other users.
Here’s how that works:
For every phone that’s opted in, our technology disguises your identity by generating a random sequence of numbers that change every few minutes. Then, using Bluetooth any time your phone detects another phone close by that’s also opted in, the two exchange those random numbers. If, in the future, someone is positive for COVID-19, they can report that positive result in their app. Any phones they had exchanged random numbers with in the last 14 days, will receive a notification that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 without revealing their identity. Public health authorities can then help anyone at risk get testing and treatment. But it’s up to all of us to help with contact tracing. Do your part, and look for your public health authority app that uses this Exposure Notifications System. The more people who participate, the sooner we can beat COVID-19 and get our communities back on their feet.”
This post is an excerpt from the New Mexico Department of Health’s press release, State Announces COVID-19 Exposure Notification App from March 23, 2021. For full details about the app, please visit NM Notify’s website.