COVID Alert

On June 18, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government would partner with enterprise technology company BlackBerry Limited and ecommerce firm Shopify to develop a voluntary, anonymous contact tracing app to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-06-18|title=Shopify, BlackBerry working with feds on COVID-19 tracing app|url=https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/shopify-blackberry-working-with-feds-on-covid-19-tracing-app-1.1452604|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618205414/https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/shopify-blackberry-working-with-feds-on-covid-19-tracing-app-1.1452604 |archive-date=2020-06-18 |access-date=2021-01-13|website=BNN Bloomberg}} The app was developed by the COVID Shield project, an open source reference implementation backed by volunteer employees of Shopify and the Linux Foundation Public Health initiative, and the Canadian Digital Service, with BlackBerry providing security guidance.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-07-31|title=Federally-backed COVID alert app now available in Ontario|url=https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/federally-backed-covid-alert-app-now-available-in-ontario-1.5046667|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731134954/https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/federally-backed-covid-alert-app-now-available-in-ontario-1.5046667 |archive-date=2020-07-31 |access-date=2020-08-02|website=CTV News Ottawa|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Linux Foundation announces open source exposure notification apps initiative to combat COVID-19|url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-foundation-announces-open-source-exposure-notification-apps-initiative-to-combat-covid-19/|access-date=2021-01-13|website=TechRepublic|date=20 July 2020 |language=en}}

On July 23, after a delay from an originally-anticipated soft launch in early-July, Canadian Digital Service announced that it would begin beta testing the COVID Alert app in Ontario.{{Cite news|date=2020-07-23|title=COVID-19 tracing app starts beta testing after three-week delay|work=CBC News|publisher=Canadian Press|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid19-tracing-app-beta-testing-1.5660619|access-date=2020-08-01}}

The app officially launched on July 31 in Ontario; Trudeau stated that the app does not replace manual contact tracing, and that other Canadian provinces would adopt the app "soon".{{Cite web|title=Canada launches COVID-19 tracking app — but only in Ontario|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7239119/coronavirus-exposure-notification-app-covid-19-ontario/|access-date=2021-01-13|website=Global News|language=en-US}}

On June 17, 2022, COVID Alert was discontinued. Health Canada cited that provinces phasing out widespread PCR testing had limited its use.{{Cite web |title=Canada sunsets its COVID Alert app |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/17/canada-sunsets-its-covid-alert-app-based-on-the-ios-and-android-exposure-notification-api/ |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=TechCrunch |date=17 June 2022 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2022-06-17 |title=Why the COVID Alert App never took off in Canada |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/why-the-covid-alert-app-never-took-off-in-canada-1.5951502 |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=CTVNews |language=en}} Manitoba had already discontinued the app in March 2022 pursuant to its lifting of public health orders.

By October 2020, all but two Canadian provinces had adopted COVID Alert with full support for reporting.{{Cite news|last=Herring|first=Jason|date=October 31, 2020|title=Alberta government blocking federal COVID Alert app, Trudeau says|work=Calgary Herald|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/alberta-government-blocking-federal-covid-alert-app-trudeau-says|access-date=November 10, 2020}} In unsupported regions, the app can be used to receive notifications of possible COVID-19 exposures involving users who reside in a supported region, but users cannot send reports of their own positive infections.

The app was not adopted widely; as of February 2022 the app had over 6.8 million downloads, but only 57,704 cases were actually reported via the app.{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Health |date=2020-09-15 |title=Download COVID Alert: Canada's exposure notification app |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/covid-alert.html |access-date=2022-05-07 |website=www.canada.ca}} Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister John Haggie argued in December 2021 that the app had been "abandoned" by the federal government, and claimed that the government had ceased updating the online dashboard measuring usage of the app. These claims were disputed by officials.{{Cite web |last=Nardi |first=Christopher |title=With low uptake, Canada 'gave up' on its COVID Alert app months ago, Newfoundland and Labrador health minister reveals in live update |url=https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/with-low-uptake-canada-gave-up-on-its-covid-alert-app-months-ago-newfoundland-and-labrador-health-minister-reveals-in-live-update-100675459/ |access-date=2022-05-07 |website= |publisher=SaltWire Network |language=en}}

Colin Furness of the University of Toronto argued that the design and implementation of the app likely made it feel "creepy" to end-users, and that he "would have favoured a design that was more transparent, that was less hermetically sealed to make sure that people had as little information as possible."{{Cite web |date=2021-05-27 |title=Was Canada's COVID Alert app a hit or a miss? |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/was-canada-s-covid-alert-app-a-hit-or-a-miss-1.5445730 |access-date=2022-05-07 |website=CTV News |language=en}}

Alberta had already deployed its own encounter logging app, ABTraceTogether (which was based upon Singapore's TraceTogether app and the BlueTrace protocol), in May 2020. The province described it as the first of its kind in North America.{{Cite web|title=Concerns surface over Alberta COVID-19 app's practicality and privacy|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/concerns-surface-over-alberta-covid-19-app-practicality-privacy-two-new-deaths-reported|access-date=2020-11-17|website=Calgary Herald|language=en-CA}} In comparison to COVID Alert, it provided contact tracing details directly to Alberta Health Services, but could not run in the background on iPhone due to iOS limitations (requiring it to be open and in the foreground in order to operate correctly).{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=Alberta reveals its COVID-19 app has been used to trace only 20 cases over 6 months|language=en-US|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-covid-app-abtracetogether-apple-ios-functionality-issues-1.5799537|access-date=2021-01-14}} The app faced criticism over this limitation, as well as over possible privacy concerns, with calls for the provincial government to migrate to COVID Alert instead, so as to assure more efficient operation on iOS and interoperability with other provinces.{{Cite web|last=Franklin|first=Michael|date=2020-11-06|title=Alberta will not adopt national COVID-19 Alert app: Kenney|url=https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-will-not-adopt-national-covid-19-alert-app-kenney-1.5178790|access-date=2020-11-17|website=CTV News Calgary|language=en}}

In August 2020, the Alberta government accused federal officials of "interfering" with its ability to work with Apple on releasing updates to ABTraceTogether in order to address these shortcomings. Later in the month, the province announced plans to "migrate" ABTraceTogether users to COVID Alert,{{Cite web|title=Ottawa rolls out its own contact tracing app, raising questions about ABTraceTogether|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/alberta-says-feds-blocking-update-to-abtracetogether-app|access-date=2020-08-09|website=Calgary Herald|language=en-CA}}{{Cite web|title=Alberta to adopt national COVID-19 tracing app|url=https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/alberta-to-adopt-national-covid-19-tracing-app|access-date=2020-08-09|website=Edmonton Journal|language=en-CA}} but this did not actually occur. In October 2020, members of the United Conservative Party (UCP) were heard ridiculing COVID Alert as "Trudeau's app" during Question Period, prompting Mayor of Calgary Naheed Nenshi to call for the province to adopt the app, and warn against the "politicization of public health".{{Cite web|title=Nenshi says Alberta needs the federal contact tracing app as province sees 410 new COVID cases|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/nenshi-says-alberta-needs-the-federal-contact-tracing-app-as-covid-rates-spike|access-date=2020-11-17|website=Calgary Herald|language=en-CA}}{{Cite web|date=2020-10-28|title=Alberta must move ahead with federal COVID tracing app, advocacy group says|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/virus-covid-tracing-app-federal-masks-masks4canada-1.5780430|access-date=2020-11-17|website=CBC News}} In an October 30 radio interview, Prime Minister Trudeau called upon the UCP government of Premier Jason Kenney to adopt the app, and suggested that Alberta residents download it so that it could still detect exposures from individuals from outside of the province, and to be ready if it were to be adopted.

On November 6, Premier Kenney stated that Alberta would not adopt COVID Alert, stating that the province would no longer be able to operate ABTraceTogether if it did, and that the latter was "from our view, simply a better and more effective public health tool".

British Columbia did not adopt COVID Alert, with provincial health officer Bonnie Henry stating that the app would require "modifications" in order to be used in the province, citing issues such as how long the app stored contact tracing data. Henry suggested an approach based on using check-ins to identify exposures by locations and timeframes.{{Cite web|title=B.C.'s top doctor says COVID-19 app would 'cause more concern' if activated in the province|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7424544/bc-bonnie-henry-covid-19-app-concern-coronavirus/|access-date=2021-01-13|website=Global News|language=en-US}} A provincial official stated that use of the app "would add significant challenges to [contact tracers'] work, without supporting B.C.'s ability to trace and identify COVID cases".

• Manitoba deprecated COVID Alert on March 15, 2022, with the lifting of all remaining public health orders. As of the latter date, the province's health care system no longer generated the keys needed to report positive cases.

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Category:COVID-19 contact tracing apps

Category:COVID-19 pandemic in Canada