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Apple, Google to allow coronavirus exposure notifications without app

01 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Apple and Google are expanding their digital coronavirus exposure notification system so that it can notify people even if they haven't already downloaded an app for the purpose, potentially expanding the adoption of the technology.

Why it matters: The companies say 25 U.S. states and territories are exploring digital contact tracing options. Just six have already launched apps.

Details: The "express" version of the technology, announced Tuesday, pushes a message to iOS and Android users in participating states letting them know that they can opt in to exposure notifications even if authorities in their area haven't built an app.

  • As with the app-based system, the express version uses Bluetooth to identify which phones have been in close proximity for a defined period of time — data that can then be used to notify people that they may have come in contact with an infected person. Public health authorities still get to set the parameters for what constitutes an exposure.
  • iOS users can get notifications without an app. On Android, users will be sent to the Google Play Store to download one that Android can generate on the fly if there isn't already an app available locally.
  • As with the regular version, the system doesn't collect location data or share identity information with other people, health authorities or Apple and Google.

The big picture: Apple and Google said the express version is primarily aimed at boosting adoption in the U.S., though other countries could use this approach as well.

  • More than 20 countries have already launched apps using the Apple-Google technology, including Germany, Switzerland and Japan, the companies noted.
  • A number of states and territories are expected to support the new express option, including Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

What they're saying:

  • Apple and Google, in a joint statement: "Exposure Notifications Express provides another option for public health authorities to supplement their existing contact tracing operations with technology without compromising on the project’s core tenets of user privacy and security."
  • Maryland governor Larry Hogan: "Exposure Notifications Express will help to save lives, greatly enhance our contact tracing operation, and advance our statewide COVID-19 recovery.” 

Go deeper:Apple, Google limit how coronavirus contact-tracing tech can be used.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.