Louisiana encouraging people to download contact tracing app

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has released a voluntary contact tracing application for mobile phones that lets people know if they’ve been around someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the launch of the COVID Defense mobile application Friday and encouraged its use. People who download the app will be notified if they are at risk of the coronavirus illness because of exposure to someone who was confirmed infected and also has registered through the app. The Edwards administration says the app doesn’t track the location of a phone or share the identity of the person who tested positive for COVID-19 when notifying someone of exposure.