An illustration of two people walking by each other holding cell phones with bluetooth radio waves emanating from the phones

Smartphone app warns if you’ve been exposed to coronavirus

Apple, Google and others, including MIT and Lincoln Laboratory, are working on a plan to use smartphones to inform those who have crossed paths with a COVID-19-infected person. They call it "exposure notification.” Voice of America interviews MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Marc Zissman on how such a system works. 
April 28, 2020
Voice of America

The smartphone in your pocket may soon let you know if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19.

As communities around the world consider the first steps toward reopening, there is fear that once people begin moving, the virus will spread. But COVID-19 presents unique challenges to stop its spread. Some who are infected never had symptoms; those who do fall ill can spread the disease for a day or two before experiencing a cough or body chills, some of the common COVID-19 symptoms.

Apple, Google and others, including MIT and Lincoln Laboratory, are working on a plan to use smartphones to inform those who have crossed paths with a COVID-19-infected person. They call it "exposure notification.” Voice of America interviews MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Marc Zissman on how such a system works.