New COVID-19 app, website help users screen themselves for virus

photo by: Graphic contributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A new Apple Inc. app and website created in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks users about their health and exposure and recommends if they should seek care for COVID-19 symptoms.

Apple’s new COVID-19 screening app and website asks users a series of questions about their health and exposure to the coronavirus and recommends what they should do next.

The free app and website, created in partnership with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the next steps people should take, including guidance on social distancing or self-isolating, recommendations on testing and when to contact a medical provider.

The screening tool asks users questions such as their symptoms, age, if they have traveled recently, if they have been in contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 and more.

It is “designed to be a resource for individuals and does not replace instructions from healthcare providers or guidance from state and local health authorities,” Apple Inc. said in a Friday news release.

The CDC said Friday that the launch of the app and website would “help Americans heed CDC guidelines and self-isolate to limit COVID-19 transmission.”

The app can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store or on Google Play or can be accessed online at www.apple.com/covid19.


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What to do if you think you may have COVID-19

Patients who have symptoms — difficulty breathing, cough and fever — should stay home, immediately isolate themselves from others and call their health care providers. Patients should never show up unannounced at a medical office or hospital. Instead, they should call ahead to explain their symptoms and give health care workers the ability to minimize the risk to others.

If patients do not have health care providers, they may call the Lawrence Douglas-County health department’s coronavirus line, 785-856-4343.

For updated information on the outbreak, Kansas residents can email COVID-19@ks.gov or call 866-534-3463 (866-KDHEINF), which is staffed 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

More information can be found through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s website or the Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health website.