Today Virginia launched the first contact tracing app for the novel coronavirus in the United States that uses new technology from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google. The state is betting that their app called "COVIDWISE" will be able to catch new cases faster.

Governor Ralph Northam (D) said in a televised briefing: "This is a way we can all work together to contain this virus. No one is tracking you. None of your personal information is saved." Those living in Virgina could check out the government site on COVID-19 for more information.

Reuters notes that "At least three more states are nearing the launch of similar apps, aiming to ease the burden on underfunded manual contact tracing teams.

But the United States remains far behind Europe, where millions of people across 11 territories over the last two months have downloaded smartphone tracker apps using the specialized Apple-Google Bluetooth technology."