ABTraceTogether app (photo by Liam Verster)

By Liam Verster

COVID-19 Contact Tracing

Alberta launches COVID-19 Contact Tracing app

May 1, 2020 | 4:10 PM

The Alberta Government has launched the ABTraceTogether app, in an effort to identify and follow up with people who come in contact with individuals who are carrying COVID-19, and prevent the virus from spreading to others.

This app is an extension of contact tracing, which Alberta Health Services is already doing through conversations over the phone. However, there are limits to current contact tracing efforts, as it relies on someone’s ability to remember all the people they have been in contact with and where they have been over the past two weeks or so. They also may not know everyone they saw, which makes it difficult for AHS to follow up with people who were potentially exposed to the virus.

The app, which can be found in both the Apple and Google Play stores for free, uses bluetooth signals to connect app users. If they are within the 2 metre physical distance for at least 15 minutes, then they will exchange encrypted, anonymous information. That information will be saved only on the phone in encrypted, inaccessible logs.

When installed, the application will ask for your phone number and access to the bluetooth. If someone’s test comes back positive, an AHS Contact Tracer will call them, and ask if they have the ABTraceTogether app. The individual will be instructed to open the app and select the ‘upload data’ option, and then verify a code. The user will then be given a unique PIN, which will allow the data to be uploaded to AHS, and stored on a secure storage system. That data will allow AHS officials to see what other app users the individual came into contact with.

If someone does come in contact with an individual who has tested positive for the virus, Alberta Health Contact Tracers will call them, and notify the person that they may have come in contact with a positive case, and to be tested.

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If that test comes back positive, AHS will ask for permission to use the data to contact others who they encountered, in order to provide them with safety guidelines, and arrange for COVID-19 testing.

The Province says the app will not use GPS, and will not track someone’s whereabouts. It cannot be used as a surveillance or enforcement tool, and also cannot be used to enforce a quarantine.

The app is meant to protect the privacy of the user, and does not collect any personal or health information. It is completely voluntary and requires a person’s consent to use the contact information, but, as it’s sole intention is to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, and does requires public participation in order to be effective, Albertans are encouraged to download and use the ABTraceTogther.

The app will not require email addresses, or send notifications that direct someone to a third party site. If these types of messages appear, asking for personal information to be used for the ABTraceTogether app, then they may be scams, and should be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.