So it begins - Three U.S. local governments to adopt coronavirus contact tracing app: MIT

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Three U.S. local governments plan to sign deals this week to become the first to adopt a location tracking app aimed at preventing new outbreaks of the novel coronavirus, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led project said Thursday.

An additional 17 state and municipal governments are considering introducing the app in their communities as soon as in the next two weeks, said Ramesh Raskar, an associate professor at MIT, in an email exchange.

“These span all over the country, and include some of the largest U.S. cities to more remote vacation communities looking to protect themselves,” he said.

Raskar declined to specify the states, counties or cities nearing agreements but said they were expected to advocate for residents to voluntarily download the app, known as Private Kit.

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Governments worldwide are evaluating Private Kit or similar technologies meant to aid the otherwise labor-intensive process of contact tracing, in which health officials must ask recent contacts of a person who has tested positive for the virus to self-quarantine or get tested.

Effective contact tracing will need to be in place before widely lifting stay-at-home orders that have crippled the global economy, health experts have said. European countries have partnered on the Pan-European Privacy Preserving Proximity Tracing initiative, following the successful use of app-based systems in some Asian countries.

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