Burgum, a former executive at Microsoft,
sparked the idea at a COVID-19 brainstorming
session with Microsoft engineers when
he introduced Brookins as the creator of
Bison Tracker.
“My staff just lit up and said, ‘That’s what we
need,’” Brookins told The Associated Press.
The app is free and optional. It has been
approved for Apple users and should be
available for Android devices in about a week,
Burgum said.
Like the Bison Tracker, Care19 is anonymous and
doesn’t ask for names, phone numbers or log-
in information. Once the app is downloaded,
individuals will be given a random ID number
and it will cache the individual’s locations
throughout the day. Users are then encouraged
to categorize their movement into different
groups such as work or grocery.
State health officials have so far been relying
on extensive interviews with people who are
sick, or in some cases incapacitated. The app
should show all the places the user has been
for at least 15 minutes, the time it takes to put
people at high risk for contracting the virus if
there’s face-to-face contact, according to federal
health officials.
The app can also assign a risk score to the users
depending how they move and interact across
the state, Brookins said. If a person stays home
for the most part with maybe an occasional trip
to the grocery store or gas station, he or she
would be assigned to a low-risk pool. If people
to work for eight hours, in many cases for jobs
deemed essential, that would likely place them
in the high-risk bucket.