%0 Journal Article
%@ 2561-326X
%I JMIR Publications
%V 8
%N 
%P e50716
%T Use of Digital COVID-19 Exposure Notifications at a Large Gathering: Survey Analysis of Public Health Conference Attendees
%A Drover,Caitlin M
%A Elder,Adam S
%A Guthrie,Brandon L
%A Revere,Debra
%A Briggs,Nicole L
%A West,Laura M
%A Higgins,Amanda
%A Lober,William B
%A Karras,Bryant T
%A Baseman,Janet G
%+ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, 3980 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA, 98195-1616, United States, 1 5056159180, eldera3@uw.edu
%K COVID-19
%K exposure notification
%K digital public health tool
%K survey analysis
%K conference
%K online survey
%K digital tool
%K public health
%K contact tracing
%D 2024
%7 18.3.2024
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Form Res
%G English
%X Background: WA Notify was Washington State’s smartphone-based COVID-19 digital exposure notification (EN) tool, which was used to help limit the spread of COVID-19 between November 30, 2020, and May 11, 2023. Following the 2022 Washington State Public Health Association Annual Conference, attendees who had WA Notify activated began receiving ENs alerting them to a possible COVID-19 exposure during the conference. A survey was emailed to all conference attendees to measure WA Notify adoption, mechanisms through which attendees received ENs, and self-reported engagement in protective behaviors postexposure. Objective: This study aimed to learn more about the experiences of WA Notify adopters and nonadopters who may have been exposed to COVID-19 at a large group gathering. Methods: A web-based survey administered through REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture; Vanderbilt University) was sent to all attendees of the Washington State Public Health Association conference. Self-reported demographic information and characteristics of respondents were summarized. Regression models were used to estimate relative risks to compare WA Notify adoption and testing behaviors between groups. Results: Of the 464 total registered attendees who were sent the survey, 205 (44%) responses were received; 201 eligible attendees were included in this analysis. Of those, 149 (74%) respondents reported having WA Notify activated on their phones at the time of the conference. Among respondents with WA Notify activated, 54% (n=77) reported learning of their potential exposure from a WA Notify EN. Respondents who reported that they did not have WA Notify activated and learned of their potential exposure via the event-wide email from conference organizers were 39% less likely to test for COVID-19 compared to respondents with WA Notify activated who learned of their potential exposure from the email (relative risk 0.61, 95% CI 0.40-0.93; P=.02), and this gap was even larger when compared to respondents who learned of their exposure from a WA Notify EN. The most commonly cited reason for not having WA Notify activated was privacy concerns (n=17, 35%), followed by not wanting to receive ENs (n=6, 12%) and being unaware of WA Notify (n=5, 10%). Conclusions: Digital EN systems are an important tool to directly and anonymously notify close contacts of potential exposures and provide guidance on the next steps in a timely manner. Given the privacy concerns, there is still a need for increasing transparency surrounding EN technology to increase uptake by the public if this technology were to be used in the future to slow the spread of communicable diseases. 
%M 38498047
%R 10.2196/50716
%U https://formative.jmir.org/2024/1/e50716
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/50716
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38498047