The Digital Divide and COVID
California has deployed a new COVID tool. The way it works is that your phone talks to others through blue tooth and will notify you if you were close to somebody with COVID. The process is seamless and painless, You will need an actual App if running this on an Android device, and you can activate it from settings on Apple. This is nice, because the more people who join the pool, the better it will be, and let us beat the virus.
All is well, I suppose, except that you need to have IOS running devices that have version 13.7 or above. Meaning an iPhone 6 will not be able to run it. Why? They do not go beyond 12 something. So if you have an older phone, you cannot participate in this program. Apparently, Google phones are not this finicky about versions.
This brings us straight into an issue that has affected all of us since the pandemic started. This is the digital divide. It’s not like people can usually go and buy a new device because we want to help our fellow Californians. Devices are expensive and can be out of reach for most people. Implementation of this program should have taken this into account.
Different versions of similar software have been deployed around the world. Some require QR codes, other use low energy blue tooth communications, which this is. All are meant to help us beat down the virus and keep people safe. You are…