Washington state to pull plug on Covid notification app
WA Notify is an app that allows people to share news of positive Covid test results anonymously, which has led to 2.5 million exposure notifications.
Washington State's Covid Exposure App is scheduled to close on May 11. This is another sign of government agencies putting Covid-19 behind them.
The WA Notify App launched in November 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and before the Covid vaccine was released. It is estimated that 235,000 people have used the app to anonymously spread news of a positive Covid result. This has led to more than 2,5 million exposure notifications.
Chief medical informatics Officer for the State Department of Health, Dr. Bryant Thomas Karras said, "We are extremely proud of the work WA Notify has accomplished in such a short time and we're eager to use this life-saving tech again in the near future." "Much of WA Notify’s success can also be attributed innovative collaboration between public, private and academic partners, including Apple, Google and Microsoft."
The sunset of the app comes on the same day that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will end its declaration of a public health emergency, more than 3 years after the first Covid cases were discovered in Puget Sound.
Jay Inslee lifted Washington's Covid Emergency on October 31, and Seattle followed suit.