WHOOPS

Utah Paid $2.75 Million for a Coronavirus Contact Tracing App Just 40,000 People Used: Report

Only 40,000 of the state’s 3.2 million people have downloaded the app, kneecapping the technology.

The state government of Utah paid $2.75 million upfront and $300,000 per month for a coronavirus contact tracing app that hardly anyone in the state is using, BuzzFeed News reports. The state began reopening May 1, and Gov. Gary Herbert said that the app, Healthy Together, would give public health workers the information they need to manage the change safely. But only 40,000 of the state’s 3.2 million people have downloaded it, kneecapping the technology. Contact tracing relies on widespread data collection, whether by human tracers or voluntary disclosure. The company developing the app has also reportedly failed to deliver on all the features it promised the state.