The State of North Carolina recently launched the SlowCOVIDNC app, intended to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and assist with contact tracing.  This is a way to protect yourself and your community simply by using your phone. 

Once you opt-in to the notification system, you can also anonymously share a positive COVID-19 test result in the app. SlowCOVIDNC protects your identity and privacy while empowering you to protect yourself, your family, and your community.

How it Works

• Download the SlowCOVIDNC Exposure Notification app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and enable Bluetooth and Exposure Notifications. Bluetooth must be on for the app to work. After opting-in to receive notifications, the app will generate an anonymous token for your device. A token is a string of random letters which changes every 10-20 minutes and is never linked to your identity or location, but is linked to date. This protects your privacy and security.
• Through Bluetooth, your phone and the phones around you with the SlowCOVIDNC app work in the background (minimizing battery usage) to exchange these anonymous tokens every few minutes. Phones record how long they are near each other and the Bluetooth signal strength of their exchanges in order to estimate distance.
• If you test positive for COVID-19, you may obtain a unique PIN to submit in the app. This voluntary and anonymous reporting notifies others who have downloaded the app that they may have been in close contact with someone in the last 14 days who has tested positive.
• PINs will be provided to app users who receive a positive COVID-19 test result through a web-based PIN Portal, by contacting the Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) call center, or by contacting their Local Health Department (LHD).
• SlowCOVIDNC periodically downloads tokens from the server from the devices of users who have anonymously reported a positive test. Your phone then uses its records of the signal strength and duration of exposures with those tokens to calculate risk and determine if you have met a threshold to receive an Exposure Notification.

Your Privacy is Protected

Using SlowCOVIDNC is entirely voluntary, and you can enable or disable it at any time. When using SlowCOVIDNC, your privacy is protected. Tokens will collect and share date, time, signal strength and duration of proximity. No location data or personally identifiable data will ever be collected or stored.

By enabling Bluetooth and Exposure Notifications, you can anonymously share a positive COVID-19 test result to help slow the spread of COVID-19. You may also be notified if you have been in close contact with someone who has shared a positive COVID-19 test result in the app.

Have more questions? 

Check out the COVID-19 Information page: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/