LOUISIANA: Could this app track COVID while keeping your information private? LSU researchers say so.
Louisiana State University researchers have created a cellphone app to track the coronavirus and alert people who might have been exposed to COVID. The GeauxTrace app uses the signal strength from Bluetooth software, which is common on most cellphones, computers and other devices, to assess the distance between cellphones. Users who were in the vicinity of someone who recently tested positive for COVID are informed of the possible exposure.
Lu Peng, an LSU electrical and computer science professor, began developing the app in January with a group of undergraduate and graduate students. It's part of an $888,642 grant from the NIH.
The COVID pandemic has spurred urgent demand for "contact tracing apps." The goal is to allow people to go out and about as normal and only quarantine when they know they've been exposed.
People who use GeauxTrace are notified of a positive test if their cell phone has been within at least six feet of someone who tested positive within the past 14 days. The close contact has to have been for at least 15 minutes, said Lu Peng, an LSU electrical and computer science professor.
Peng said the GeauxTrace application has a number of safeguards to protect users' privacy.