KPBS Midday Edition

Exposure Notification App Tested At UCSD Now Available To All Californians

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Brooke Ruth / Senior Producer of Audio News

Published December 10, 2020 at 9:02 AM PST

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

A contact tracing app is seen on a cell phone screen, Friday, May 22, 2020.

On Thursday, Californians can turn on a new tool that will alert them if they've been exposed to someone later diagnosed with COVID-19. The technology was tested on the UC San Diego campus earlier this year.

On Thursday, Californians can turn on a new tool that will alert them if they've been exposed to someone later diagnosed with COVID-19.

The CA Notify app is available on Apple and Android smartphones. On Apple iPhones, exposure notifications can be turned on in the phone's settings. On Android phones, the CA Notify app can be downloaded from the Google Play store.

The technology was tested on the UC San Diego campus earlier this year. The purpose is to alert people, privately and anonymously, if they have been in close contact, for 15 minutes or more, with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. It uses Bluetooth technology to ping nearby app users. If someone using the app tests positive for coronavirus, it can tell the fellow app users who have been in contact with that person that they have been exposed to COVID-19.

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Dr. Christopher Longhurst, the chief information officer and associate chief medical officer at UC San Diego Health, joined Midday Edition on Thursday to discuss how the app works.

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Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Brooke Ruth

Brooke Ruth is the senior producer of Audio News. She previously served as a producer for "KPBS Midday Edition" and a web producer. Before joining KPBS, Brooke was a web editor for four newspapers and a local television station. She began her career in news at the Imperial Valley Press. She has also been part of the web teams at the Napa Valley Register, North County Times, and U-T San Diego. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at UCLA in psychology, she worked on the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

See stories by Brooke Ruth