This week, I downloaded Tous Anti Covid, a tool here in France that was created to trace the chains of contamination of the Coronavirus 19, especially in areas that are high in numbers of circulation. This can be downloaded in Apple or Google Play.

I admit that it’s scary to activate it, as shown below, because the mobile app requires you to open your bluetooth. When the bluetooth is open, you have an option to activate it. This will enable to detect anyone nearby who uses the app – and reported that they have tested positive with COVID19 – to notify you when you have come close in contact with them. Once this happens, it will send a notification in your mobile phone, sending awareness that you isolate yourself to avoid spreading it out to someone else as well as some instructions on what you can do. It is important to take note that everything and everyone is anonymous. Privacy is still respected here. You will only know that you have been in contact with someone within a meter for at least 15 minutes – but you will not know who. It is now up to you to self-isolate/self-quarantine to protect yourself and others for further contamination. The app has several guided information and what’s good about this? It’s in English! Maybe, it automatically defaults to my phone since that’s my personal preference, but I hope that it also has something in French. This should be easily utilized by everyone in France and it will be very helpful that it is well-understood by most locals.

It is free and voluntary, so we have an option to activate or deactivate. Since the aim is to be able to have an early detection and prevention, this will work only if a lot of people will download and start using the app.

I think that this will only work effectively if a person who took a test or tested positive with the virus was able to download and record it in the app. Otherwise, we will all just be walking around with this app in the background and not knowing that an asymptomatic person have already come close in contact with us.

The government released a whole page dedicated to inform everyone about this new tool and it is found HERE.

Also, since there are now 54 Departments and one overseas territory under curfew for the period of six weeks, the mobile app also has a link that provides the certificate that you need to fill up if you want to go out within the period of curfew from 9pm to 6am. It’s almost the same certificate that we have to fill up during the 3-month lockdown last March – May. I just wonder who walks their dog beyond 9pm…

I hope this information helps. The app still makes me anxious. I try my best to live with the virus, doing the normal things but with utmost caution. I hope that I won’t get any notification from it. Anyway, it will help us protect ourselves and other people. I also hope you would try to download and use this. And hopefully, we could overcome this pandemic soon.

Take care of yourself and stay safe!