Georgia Institute of Technology has announced a partnership with NOVID as a part of their strategy for keeping students and faculty safe from the virus as they reopen for the Fall semester. NOVID is the only app-based solution that warns users before they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 with pre-exposure notifications.
Colleges and universities across the country are taking steps to ensure that their campuses are ready to reopen safely. They are implementing a sophisticated combination of santiziation protocols, distancing measures, and technologies such as contact tracing apps. NOVID is different from other solutions as it prioritizes anonymity, accuracy, and getting “ahead of the spread” of the virus, preventing hot spots on campus.
“Our mission is to give Universities a way to stop the spread of COVID-19 without compromising on students’ privacy” says Dr. Po-Shen Loh, NOVID founder, internationally renowned mathematician, Carnegie Mellon Professor, social entrepreneur, and national Math Olympiad coach. “Universities like Georgia Tech can trust that NOVID is a tool to protect their students from the virus, even before they’ve been exposed, and not a way to collect their data. This is a significant moment that shows how a university system is prioritizing the health of its students as it plans to reopen campuses with in-person instruction.”
NOVID puts accurate, anonymous data in the hands of the user, empowering them to make informed decisions. NOVID’s unique interface shows the user how quickly the virus is approaching them, similar to a weather radar. Using a unique combination of ultrasonic and bluetooth technology, it is the first and only app able to measure distance between devices with the precision required for effective contact tracing. Bluetooth-only solutions connect with other devices through walls, providing “exposure alerts” to individuals that have not actually shared space.
“The more members of the Georgia Tech community that are using this, the more effective it will be in helping us stop the spread of infection,” said Jon Duke, director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Health Analytics and Informatics who led adoption of the software with Harter. “Addressing the pandemic will take a community-wide effort involving testing, wearing masks, maintaining distance from others, and frequent handwashing. NOVID is another part of that effort.”
As of Aug. 17, more than 2,000 users had joined the Georgia Tech NOVID community. You can read more about it on Georgia Institute of Technology- Research News.
About NOVID
NOVID is the app approaching contact tracing from the other side, all with complete anonymity. It’s the only solution that can warn you before you’ve been exposed to COVID-19 with pre-exposure notifications. Using ultrasonic technology, NOVID is the first and only app demonstratively able to measure distance with the precision required for contact tracing. NOVID was founded by internationally renowned mathematician, Carnegie Mellon Professor, social entrepreneur, and national Math Olympiad coach, Po-Shen Loh. In February, Loh was featured in the New York Times for his groundbreaking work on a simpler way to solve quadratic equations. Loh’s experience in mathematics, computer science, programming, and network theory helped him develop this technology, along with his top-notch team of designers, mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, and more.
