Rhode Island launches contact tracing app

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) announced the launch of a new app aimed at helping state officials track and stop the spread of coronavirus at a press conference held Monday in Providence.

The app, called “Crush COVID RI” will be used by state health experts to conduct contact tracing and better understand the spread of the virus across the state.

Rhode Island has reported over 12,600 cases of the disease.

“This is a homegrown app,” said Raimondo at the press conference, according to local news affiliate WPRI. “It’s going to be a tool that helps everybody in Rhode Island get through the crisis.”

“When I started this I said to the team that I need you to make something that tracks contacts and enables us to keep a lid on the virus, but protects people’s privacy and data in an ironclad way, so that’s what this is designed to do,” the governor continued.

The app, which state residents can download to their smartphones, identifies any area where users stay for longer than 10 minutes and reports that location to state officials. The goal, according to Raimondo, is to identify hot spots around the state frequented for long periods of time by many residents.