Ontario's new smartphone application for tracking COVID-19 cases has not yet been installed on our cellphones as the province is sitting back and waiting for the federal government to get more provinces to buy in on the program.
It was June 18 that Premier Doug Ford announced that the new application would be available voluntarily to all Ontario smartphone owners by July 2.
That didn't happen. And even though many cellphones have generic COVID-19 tracking technology (more on this below), the Ontario-specific program has not been launched yet.
Mike Maddock, the assistant deputy minister for the Ontario Digital Service, explained in June how the Ontario app was developed after seeing similar applications come on the market in Germany, Japan and other countries.
"After careful consideration over the past number of weeks, we decided to build a customized version of an app that was developed in Ontario by volunteers from Shopify (a software and web development company). The app was called COVID Shield. It was released as open source code — open source meaning it is transparent and open to the public and free to anyone in any part of the world to customize and use," said Maddock.
When pushed by reporters earlier this month on why COVID Shield had not yet materialized by July 2 as promised, the premier said there was a delay.
But it was not from "our side" Ford said during a recent news conference.
Ford explained he was "proud of Shopify and what an incredible job they did."
He added that he was proud the app was developed in Ontario, but said the program is currently on hold while the federal government works to bring more provinces in on the plan.
"We're ready to go," said Ford.
"I know the feds want to bring it right across the country. They're working on that. But Ontario is ready, so we will wait for the feds to launch it and we support them," Ford told reporters.
"It's ready to go, they just need a buy-in from a few more provinces and open it up nationally.
"And I stand with the prime minister on doing this. I understand there's a little problem with giving other provinces the right to communicate with Apple, and I believe it is Microsoft. I could be wrong on that, but it's to be able to communicate with the providers."
As for the generic app appearing on many Android and iPhone platforms earlier this year, Google and Apple issued a joint statement on May 20 explaining that what was installed on their systems was not an app at all.
Should a public health agency decided to create an app, the electronic infrastructure installed by Apple and Android would allow COVID-19 tracking software, once installed, to work.
As Maddock explained in June, the COVID Shield app will not work unless the smartphone user installs the software and agrees to use it. And the app still won't work unless another person, who has also installed the software, comes into close proximity to the first person.
Even then there are limits on how the tracker app can work. It is more than just being in the same room.
If a smartphone user has tested positive for COVID-19 and agrees to use the app, that person can access an anonymous eight-digit code, randomly generated by the Ministry of Health, and install it on their phone.
Another person nearby might be able to pick up the track if they're standing in a line-up or in a group of people and they come into contact with another person with an active tracker. Their phone will send an anonymous notice to your phone, if you have been near that person (two-metres or less) for roughly 10 to 15 minutes.
Once that happens, the person who gets the notice can decide whether they should take action to leave the room, or to get tested themselves. The Ministry of Health said there is no record of anyone being notified and the tracker program is completely anonymous. The whole idea is to make people aware they have come into close proximity to a person who has self-identified as testing positive for the virus.
