BISMARCK – Gov. Doug Burgum announced this week the launch of the new Care19 Alert smartphone app designed to notify users of possible COVID-19 exposure while protecting their privacy with technology developed by Apple and Google.

“North Dakota was the first state to launch a contact tracing app, and now we’re the first state to connect an exposure notification system with the National Key Server, which will allow Care19 Alert to work with similar apps in other states. This makes Care19 Alert a vital resource in keeping schools and businesses open while protecting personal privacy,” said Burgum.

North Dakota-based ProudCrowd LLC developed Care19 Alert in partnership with the North Dakota Department of Health using federal funding. The free app is available to download through the App Store and the Google Play Store. Care19 Alert is the only app in North Dakota allowed to use the exposure notification system (ENS) application programming interface (API) jointly created by Apple and Google.

By using Care19 Alert in conjunction with the original Care19 app, now called Care19 Diary, residents can maximize the number of people who can be notified of exposure. Both apps maintain users’ privacy and work seamlessly to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by providing timely notifications to a broad range of users in an efficient and secure manner.

Care19 Alert users will be notified if their device was in proximity of another device whose user tests positive for COVID-19. The app updates daily with positive COVID-19 results submitted by other users, which are then checked against the list of random keys that each device has encountered for more than 15 minutes in the last 14 days.

More information about Care19 Alert and Care19 Diary can be found at https://belegendary.link/Care19.