Millions of people have downloaded apps designed to alert them to coronavirus exposure. Their effectiveness has yet to be proved.
By Kelly ServickScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.Last month, when the Australian government launched a smartphone app called COVIDSafe to find and alert the contacts of people infected with the coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a hard sell to the public. “The more people who download this important public health app … the sooner we can safely lift restrictions and get back to business and do the things we love,” he said in a 26 April press release.