The surge in cases puts more pressure on Alberta and British Columbia to join the COVID alert app.

So Coronavirus Cases have skyrocketed to record levels, increasing pressure on Alberta and British Columbia for Canadian adoption. COVID-19 Exposure Notification App..

The two states have evaded the federal system since their inception in July. There are reasons not to sign on to either, but experts say that the benefits behind these reasons are diminishing because of the maximum expansion of contact tracing resources.

“Recently, I’ve seen British Columbia and Alberta epicenters of infection,” said Jean-Paul Soucy, a PhD student in epidemiology at the University of Toronto.

Pressure is rising in Alberta.Alberta has been in Alberta since the state declared a second public health emergency on Tuesday. Called on authorities using social media They aren’t protruding, because they want to put the state into the national app.

Alberta’s Prime Minister Jason Kenny and Dr. Dina Hinshaw’s main claim to COVID alerts is to only notify users of exposure and not connect to the state’s own contact tracing network.

However, according to recent data, Alberta does not use its own app for that purpose.

The Alberta app, called ABTrace Together, has about 270,000 registered users in about 4.4 million states, but is only used to track close contacts. 19 positive cases since its launch in May, That is, the app is used in less than 0.05% of all positive cases in Alberta.

1:53The ABTraceTogether app is used to track just 19 cases of COVID-19

Experts emphasized the need for a better strategy when Alberta’s contact tracing system was overwhelmed by the incident and collapsed. Contact tracers will no longer use the app to contact the infected person’s close contacts unless the infected person falls into one of three priority groups.

Extensive tracing Temporarily abandoned, Prabertger, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Dallalana School of Public Health, said intergovernmental cooperation has been significantly delayed.

Jha said there was a problem with the federal app COVID Alert. Not only is it underutilized, but it’s also becoming “getting lost in Twitter’s opinion” about effectiveness and effectiveness.

“This should have been sorted out on July 1st, not near December 1st,” he said. “The app works with high coverage, not when the jurisdiction fights.”

And Susie believes that Alberta’s concerns have several benefits.

He said he understands the benefits of connecting digital tracing efforts to local networks. Moving from one app to another (albeit flawed) can be a difficult argument at this point, he added.

“It’s difficult to change horses along the way,” Susie said.

“There are some benefits to saying.” Well, instead of changing to a better solution, it’s not a very good solution that’s already established, and you need to rebuild your audience and everything else. It’s a complicated question. “

1:32Kenny asks all Alberta to download the state COVID-19 tracking app. We do not use federal apps.

This is part of the discussion that British Columbia is having on COVID alerts.

British Columbia health officer Bonnie Henry said he was concerned about “increasing jobs without profit” in the process of adopting the app. She said she doesn’t think the app will have a big impact at this time.

Given the state’s pandemic situation, the argument is “mysterious,” Susie said.

BC, like Alberta, has seen a tremendous increase in cases and deaths over the past few weeks. Alberta set a new cool milestone this week, bringing the total death toll from COVID-19, which has more than 300 hospitalized, to 500. BC reported the largest increase in daily deaths to 13 people this Wednesday.

Henry may point out short-term implications, Susie said, but it should keep long-term benefits in mind.

“You can build your user base when it’s high, high awareness, and high urgency,” he says, and the app is easily accessible and can be added to protection measures at low cost.

“It would be great if BC could turn this around. Now we have this huge number of install bases for this app. We can use it to keep cases low again.”

Some British Columbia residents, like Alberta, have complained about the refusal and believe that the state is blocking access to federal services.

1:18Corona Virus: When will BC sign on to the COVID-19 Alerts app?

Marika Nadeau, director of the Health Canada COVID Alert Task Force, encourages people in Alberta and British Columbia to download the app regardless of whether the state is “ready to board.” It was. She said people can be notified even if they are in contact with someone in another state.

Nadeau said there was ongoing conversation about migrating Alberta and British Columbia to the app. Mr. Nado said BC’s request for “coordination” “needs further investigation from a privacy perspective,” but there is still room for improvement.

“Privacy will continue to be our number one priority,” she told Global News.

The COVID Alert app has received its own criticism, primarily due to lack of promotion and overwhelming support. Nadeau believes there was a push to the app, partly due to increased promotions. She said it has been downloaded 5.4 million times since its launch and has been downloaded about 5,400 times since October 1. Atlantic states and Quebec have also recently signed on.

COVID Alert is considered an exposure notification app, not a contact tracking app. Its purpose is to warn anyone who may have come into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, relying on a Bluetooth signal to track the user’s phone in relation to others. ..

Canadians who test positive will voluntarily connect the code to the app. The app will alert a phone within 2 meters of the infected person’s phone for at least 15 minutes within the last two weeks. As of November 26th, over 6,100 one-time keys are logged in to the app. According to Nadeau, over 1,000 keys were entered in November 18-24 alone.

“The more people download the app and enter its code, especially on holidays, the more it helps reduce the spread of cases,” she said.

One of Dr. Henry’s concerns is the “parameters” of the app. Henry criticized the app for returning notifications within 14 days. People who carry the virus are not always infected all the time. Since then, the COVID Alerts app has been modified to allow infected people to plug in at the onset of symptoms or on the date of the COVID-19 test.

1:59Why the Government of Canada COVID Alert App Doesn’t Work

And it will continue to adapt, Nado said.

“We launched it to deal with the crisis when it was needed, and now we continue to evaluate it,” she said. “I hope British Columbia will respond to the changes we bring.”

According to Soucy, the app isn’t without some restrictions, but the selling point is to “respect privacy.”

“It’s not a silver bullet, but it can make a difference, especially because traditional contact tracing is failing,” says Soucy.

“This is not a replacement, but what is it?”

— Use Canadian Press files

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