THUNDER BAY - In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario, the provincial government is encouraging everyone in the province to use a new app being developed that alerts individuals if they have come in contact with someone who has tested positive.
“Its absolutely critical to have this capacity as we begin to reopen more regions of our province,” said Premier Doug Ford during his daily media briefing on Thursday.
The COVID Alert App is in partnership with the federal government and is being developed by Ontario Digital Services with help from volunteers from Shopify.
Those who choose to download the app will be notified anonymously if they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 14 days.
“Personal privacy was our number one priority when developing this app,” Ford said. “If we don’t have the cooperation of the people of Ontario, we put ourselves at risk. Download the app. It is 100 per cent private. I know how important that is for people.”
The app is expected to be released in the next two weeks and is one of several steps being taken by the provincial government to enhance contact tracing as more parts of the province reopen.
The provincial government is supporting public health units with up to 1,700 additional staff from Statistics Canada to assist in contact tracing, and it is modernizing the integrated Public Health Information System with a new COVID-19 case and contact management system.
“We are finally getting on with the long overdue work of replacing outdating systems that no longer meet the needs of public health units,” said Minister of Health Christine Elliott. “Combined, these initiatives will drastically enhance our ability to detect and contain new cases of this virus.”
Across the province, 31 regions have entered stage two of reopening and for the fifth straight day there have been fewer than 200 new positive cases of COVID-19.
However, with more regions reopening and more people going into public, Elliott said it is important to identify and contain new cases of COVID-19 to prevent further spread.
“Early detection and containing new cases has been and will remain critical in stopping the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
