ALBANY COUNTY — New York and New Jersey today launched a free app that will let people with smartphones find out if they have been near someone with COVID-19.

New York and New Jersey are joining Pennsylvania and Delaware in the COVID Alert system, and Connecticut is expected to join the Exposure Notification System soon.

Testing, Governor Andrew Cuomo told the press on Thursday, is to identify an infected person so that person can be isolated. The people the COVID-19 patient has been in contact with are then traced, with 15,000 “disease detectives” working statewide, Cuomo said.

The COVID Alert NY app, which can be downloaded for free, “knows where your cell phone is; the app will know where a person who tested positive was through their cell phone, and the app can tell you if you were within six feet of that person,” Cuomo said.

He went on to explain, “The way it will work is, when a person tests positive, the Department of Health contacts that person and asks that person if they have an iPhone and then gives that person a password. That person types in their password for their phone, and then any other phone that comes within six feet of that phone is on the app. It doesn’t give names. It doesn’t give any private information. It’s voluntary.”

Lawrence Schwartz, whom Cuomo called a volunteer, said, “It’s completely confidential. We don’t collect any data. We don’t track people so if there’s any concern it’s a completely voluntary program.”

The app can be used by anyone 18 or older; it complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Schwartz said, and it’s in the top six languages spoken in New York State: English, Spanish, Chinese, Bengali, Korean, Russian, and Haitian Creole.

Two pilot tests were done, Schwartz said. One was with 1,000 State University of New York students, including on the Albany campus.

Bloomberg Philanthropies worked on the project, Cuomo said, and brought in Google, Apple, and other technology companies.

“COVID Alert NY app is live today,” said Schwartz. “It works on both Apple iPhones as well as any Android phone so you can either go to the Apple store, the Google Play store and download that app.”

Hotspots

As he has all week , Cuomo stressed the importance of controlling COVID-19 outbreaks in hotspots, particularly with enforcement of mask-wearing.

“These 20 hotspot ZIP codes require attention and action, because they are not hermetically sealed and a cluster today can become community spread tomorrow. It’s no longer about public education, it’s about enforcement — I do’'t think there has been a public health topic that has been more exhaustively communicated in my lifetime than wearing a mask,” Cuomo said.

The average rate of positive tests in the 20 hotspot ZIP codes — in Orange and Rockland counties as well as Brooklyn — is 6.5 percent, Cuomo reported. Excluding those ZIP codes, the positivity rate for the rest of New York State is 0.98 percent.

The goal is to stay below 1 percent.

Based on test results reported Wednesday, the Capital Region, of which Albany County is a part, is at 0.5 percent, which Cuomo termed “great.”

Six of the state’s 10 regions are at 1 percent or higher. The highest is Mid-Hudson, with both Rockland and Orange counties, which is at 2.9 percent.

The lowest, as usual, is the North Country, at 0.1 percent, which Cuomo termed “super great.”

Call for aid

Also on Thursday, New York’s county leaders, meeting virtually for the New York State Association of Counties’ fall seminar, renewed their call for the White House and Congressional leaders to negotiate an agreement to give local government direct coronavirus stimulus aid.

“We are in the middle of a national emergency that is impacting every community in New York and across the country,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, president of the NYS County Executives’ Association, in a statement. “The federal government has provided emergency assistance to businesses and individuals, now it must do the same for the local governments who have been most impacted by this public health crisis so we can continue to battle COVID-19 and prevent further damage to our economy.” 

Newest numbers

Albany County now has 2,983 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 15 from Wednesday,  McCoy reported in a release from his office. Among the new positive cases, 11 had close contact with a person infected with the disease, one is a healthcare worker or resident of a congregate setting, and three did not have a clear source of transmission detected at this time.

Separately, two of the new cases are associated with the University at Albany. If more than 100 cases are reported within two weeks, students must go to remote learning for two weeks.

The SUNY COVID-19 Tracker on Thursday evening reported 13 estimated positive test results at UAlbany since the new two-week reporting period started on Sept. 26. Also, the tracker said that 46 of UAlbany’s 230 rooms set aside for quarantine are being used.

Albany County currently has 943 residents under quarantine. The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 13 from 15.4 on Wednesday. There are now 93 active cases in the county, up slightly from 91.

So far, 12,486 county residents have completed quarantine. Of those who completed quarantine, 2,890 of them had tested positive and recovered. 

Five county residents remain hospitalized with COVID-19 and the county’s hospitalization rate remains at 0.16 percent

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 134.