Remember Covid-19 phone alerts? California app ignores at-home tests, missing exposures

A man does his a nasal swab at a BusTest Express Covid-19 mobile testing site in Paramount, a city in Los Angeles County, California. — AFP

Launched over a year ago as a high-tech answer to California's contact tracing woes, most people who test positive for Covid-19 still are not using the "exposure notifications" smartphone app to warn close contacts of potential infection, data show.

The CA Notify app also does not yet have an option for people who test positive at home to share their diagnosis. That means thousands of infected people who want to anonymously alert others have no easy way to do so.