Earlier today , I received an Apple Watch notification that made me gasp out loud . A spry glimpse at the qui vive , which was from Canada ’s prescribed covid-19 exposure - trailing app , block off me in my track . I instantly assumed the risky , but instead , the app was or else letting me know I had n’t been unwrap to the virus over the retiring workweek . This unexpected feature was n’t as reassuring as the app ’s creators probably call up it would be .
In a continued exertion to flatten out the curvature of covid-19 infection here , several provinces , including Ontario , made the Canadian government ’s voluntary COVID rattling fluid app for iOS and Android available to residents last month . The app , built on Google ’s and Apple ’s exposure notification organisation , promises anonymity by sharing randomise code to other nearby machine over Bluetooth and keep a two - calendar week log of who a user has been in cheeseparing proximity with . If a exploiter tests positivist for covid-19 , they can update their app using a confirmation code issued with their positivist trial results , and it will then automatically notify other users who ’ve potentially been exposed , through the app operate on their own devices .
Based on a reasonably simple and aboveboard installation process , I assumed I would n’t see a peep from the app unless I had been potentially exposed to the computer virus , otherwise it would just run wordlessly in the background until it needed my urgent aid . Today I learned the intemperate room that that is n’t the case . I received my first “ Weekly Update ” telling ( despite installing the app two weeks ago ? ) that I assumed was the notification every drug user is quietly dread , but after my heart resumed beating , I realize everything was fine . ( With “ fine ” doing some heavy lifting there . )
Photo: Andrew Liszewski/Gizmodo
There ’s definitely some peace of mind to be had knowing I was n’t exposed to the virus over the preceding week , and that the app is still functioning as contrive . I also realize there ’s a very real chance that a user of the app could overlook a ‘ potential exposure ’ notification , in which case regular monitor would be lively to ensuring they properly quarantine . But perchance only trip those presentment on a user by user basis when a potential exposure has been confirm ? It ’s snuff it to take a while before I get used to find out these “ Weekly Update ” notification and not gasp every time they pop up on screen door , even if delivering just news . Everybody ’s already permanently on sharpness about this ongoing pandemic . Maybe , just maybe , there ’s a better way to go about this .
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