On Nov. 30, Gov. Jay Inslee and the Washington State Department of Health announced the launch of WA Notify, an anonymous exposure notification tool to help stop the spread of COVID-19. 

According to the Governor's announcement, "WA Notify uses privacy-preserving technology jointly developed by Google and Apple and works without collecting or revealing any location or personal data."

"When voluntarily activated, phones with WA Notify use Bluetooth technology to exchange random codes with the phones of other users they are near," the announcement explains. "It does this without revealing a user’s identity or location. Users who test positive for COVID-19 can enter a verification code provided by public health into WA Notify, so that other users who have been near them within the last 14 days can be anonymously alerted and take appropriate action."

WA Notify is free and can be enabled in settings for iPhone users or downloaded as an app from the Google Play Store for Android users.

Learn more at WANotify.org.