Atlanta company debuts COVID-19 contact tracing technology for schools
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ATLANTA (WGCL) — CENTEGIX, an Atlanta-based tech company, has entered the fight against COVID-19 with a system to help schools trace potential exposure to the virus.
It’s called ContactAlert. It uses the same technology as the company’s CrisisAlert system – an emergency notification system which alerts school officials and local law enforcement to incidents including medical emergencies, tornado warnings, or even an active shooter.
CENTEGIX CEO Matthew Stevens believes the system would be an easy addition for the 1,200 schools across the country that already use his company’s CrisisAlert system, including the Douglas County School District.
“Our badges have the ability to communicate to our location network. If somebody’s later diagnosed COVID-19, we can look wherever that badge has been,” he said.
Stevens said because of the way the badges communicate with the hub on campus, school leaders would then use that data to know which students and staff might need to go into quarantine and which areas now need a deep cleaning.
“It’s not just about COVID-19. It’s about the next flu season or the next disease or pandemic that hits,” said Stevens. “This gives our districts the capability to have a very good understanding of disease telemetry and contacting, no matter what it is in the future.”
Here’s how CENTEGIX describes ContactAlert:
“ContactAlert™ enables district leaders to protect their teachers and staff by anonymously contact tracing school constituents that may have been in contact for a defined period of time with infected individuals. The technology can also be used for visitors that enter the school so that employees can be better protected against infections coming from outside of the school.
Data privacy is a fundamental design principle of ContactAlert™ and CrisisAlert™. Data will be anonymously provided only for an incident that meets contact tracing criteria defined by the CDC and Departments of Public Health, which is currently more than 15 minutes of close exposure.”
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