LA County Partners With SafePass App To Help Residents With Coronavirus Contact Tracing
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- Los Angeles County is joining forces with SafePass, a mobile app that anonymously tracks people who may be exposed to coronavirus and provides phone notifications to those who had close contact to get tested.
Mayor Eric Garcetti was joined by other county officials on Wednesday to announce the technology partnership that increases accessibility to coronavirus contact tracing efforts.
The app is free and voluntary, but recommended, and only requires a download and opting into the anonymous tracking with encrypted data. It is available on the Google Play Store and App Store.
"It never identifies the person who has tested positive," Garcetti said.
SafePass can also provide updates about coronavirus cases within individual cities and L.A. County as a whole.
The mobile app is available from Citizen, which an estimated one million L.A. County residents already have downloaded.
Formal contact tracing provided through calls will still go on throughout L.A. County and the state.
Garcetti was joined by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek and Citizen CEO Andrew Frame.
L.A. County also announced the opening of a mobile testing kiosk in Union Station. It will be available on Wednesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with or without an appointment.
L.A. city residents who would like to schedule an appointment for testing, please visit coronavirus.lacity.org/testing.
Pop-up, walk-up only free testing sites will also be open at the following locations throughout the city of Los Angeles:
- September 12 - Valley Plaza Recreation Center, 12240 Archwood St., North Hollywood, CA 91606, 8am - 2pm
- September 19 - Ardmore Recreation Center (i.e., Seoul International Park), 3250 San Marino St., Los Angeles, CA 90006, 8am - 2pm
- September 26 - Sepulveda Recreation Center, 8825 Kester Ave., Panorama City, CA 91402, 8am - 2pm
- September 26 - Pacoima Senior Center, 11300 Glenoaks Blvd., #1622, Pacoima, CA 91331, 8am - 2pm
