Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Nearing One Million Downloads, NC's COVID-19 App Has Given Few Alerts

SlowCOVIDNC is a free app designed to alert users if they've come in contact with someone who's tested positive for COVID-19.
NCDHHS
SlowCOVIDNC is a free app designed to alert users if they've come in contact with someone who's tested positive for COVID-19.

WFDD - North Carolina is closing in on one million downloads of an app released last year to slow the spread of COVID-19. If you have the app and wonder why you’ve never gotten a notification, you’re not alone.

SlowCOVIDNC technology is supposed to alert users if they come in close contact with someone who has recently tested positive for the virus.

But it’s a two-way street — if people don’t report positive tests, it won’t work that well. Just over 1,000 have been reported to the app since last September, with a total of just over 3,000 total alerts during that time.

Charles Carter is the Assistant Secretary of Technology Services with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. He says interest in the app is growing again at a rate of more than 20,000 downloads a month as COVID cases across the state surge. But getting more people vaccinated is the state’s main priority.

“If all of us were to get vaccinated this virus would die, because it would have nowhere to breed, nowhere to live," he says. "And we just released some statistics to back that up. You are more than six times more likely to contract the virus if you’ve not been vaccinated. You’re 15 times more likely to die from COVID if you’re unvaccinated.”

Carter says the app can still play a helpful role in the pandemic fight and encourages people to use it and report any positive tests.

Paul Garber
More Stories