With students on campus, NMSU develops Covid-19 contact tracing app

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Contact tracing just became easier on one Borderland college campus.

"What we wanted to do is to provide the quickest way to identify people who potentially get infected and separate them so that the virus doesn't spread," said Son Tran, the head of New Mexico State University's Computer Science Department.

With students and staffers back on campus, NMSU has a new contact tracing app for anyone who attends or teachers at the school.

Three students worked to develop the app, which is free to the entire university community.

"We are very proud of them," Tran said. "They are very excited that they developed something that can help fighting the virus and actually help other students."

With the help of GPS, the app determines if an infected person has made contact with other people. An NMSU ID and email is necessary to sign up.