UC Campuses Pilot Google-Apple Notification Technology to Help Prevent COVID-19 Outbreaks

On September 11, 2020, the state of California approved a new voluntary pilot program that uses Apple and Google smartphone technology to help rapidly control COVID-19 outbreaks. The pilot is designed to quickly notify individuals when a COVID-19 exposure may have occurred. The program will launch on the campus of UC San Diego, followed by UC San Francisco for any students and employees who decide to opt in. 

“The Google Apple Exposure Notification (GAEN) Express tool offers a high-tech, privacy-preserving solution that automates the work of notification for you — without sharing who you are or providing unnecessary digital details that could compromise privacy,” said Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief information officer, UC San Diego Health. “If the pilot is successful, it will set the foundation for the state to offer voluntary exposure notifications to all Californians using smartphone-based technology.”

With user privacy and security central to the design of GAEN, Bluetooth technology is employed to help reduce the spread of the virus by making anonymous notifications of potential exposures. As part of a privacy-first approach, users decide whether they want to share a verified positive test result with the app and determine whether they want to share that with other users. 

“By using Bluetooth technology, we can achieve notifications with strong privacy protections in place,” said Longhurst. “Your location information is never collected. User identities are not shared with anyone, including Apple and Google. And it is all voluntary so users can opt-out any time.”

“This pilot is going to help people you know, but maybe more importantly, the people you don’t know,” added Longhurst. “If I get COVID-19, I’m going to tell my family right away. But I may not remember or even know everybody that I’ve encountered in the last two weeks. That’s where this application can help notify the people whose names and phone numbers I don’t have. It’s designed to help the community, making it safer for everyone.”  

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