RI Gov. Raimondo unveils new contact tracing mobile app ‘Crush COVID RI’

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) announced the launch of a new app aimed at helping state officials track and stop the spread of coronavirus at a press conference held Monday in Providence.

The app, called “Crush COVID RI” will be used by state health experts to conduct contact tracing and better understand the spread of the virus across the state.

Rhode Island has reported over 12,600 cases of the disease.

“This is a homegrown app,” said Raimondo at the press conference, according to local news affiliate WPRI. “It’s going to be a tool that helps everybody in Rhode Island get through the crisis.”

“When I started this I said to the team that I need you to make something that tracks contacts and enables us to keep a lid on the virus, but protects people’s privacy and data in an ironclad way, so that’s what this is designed to do,” the governor continued.

The app, which state residents can download to their smartphones, identifies any area where users stay for longer than 10 minutes and reports that location to state officials. The goal, according to Raimondo, is to identify hot spots around the state frequented for long periods of time by many residents.

Here’s a peek at the app. @GovRaimondo says if you opt in to the location diary, the app will monitor and track of all the places you spent more than 10 minutes. That data is stored on your phone only and automatically deleted after 20 days. pic.twitter.com/DgLzWNHi0D

— Kim Kalunian (@KimKalunian) May 19, 2020

“The name of the game is containing the virus,” Raimondo added at the press conference. “We can’t stop it, we can only hope to contain it, so if everyone is on it we can quickly identify hot spots.”

Rhode Island reported 26 new deaths from the coronavirus on Tuesday, the state’s largest one-day total so far.