PlayStudios Launches COVID-19 Contact Tracing App

As soon as casinos reopened in Nevada, there was a new spike in the number of COVID-19 cases. While some would say it was the operators’ fault, now these operators are helping fighting it.

PlayStudios, an online casino company, developed a COVID-19 contact tracing app, which is now available in the Sagebrush State but is getting even a wider recognition each day. Nevada operators encourage both their staff and players to download it and help prevent the pandemic’s spread.

PlayStudios Releases COVID Trace App

PlayStudios, a mobile online gambling company, decided to develop an app that would alert users if someone they’ve crossed paths with has tested positive for COVID-19.

How the App was Created

The one that came up with the brilliant idea of developing the app was the company’s CEO, Andrew Pascal. He wanted to help Nevada stop the spread of the disease. When Pascal learned how Southern Nevada Health District investigators handled the situation, he couldn’t believe his ears.

He understood that investigators were calling each person who tested positive for CODID-19 in the state to give a list of names, close contacts who might have been infected. Then, they asked those people on the list to self-quarantine themselves to stop the spread of COVID-19. Pascal’s reaction to this acknowledgment was:

In the face of the pandemic, where you have this rapid transmission of a virus, you must talk to everybody and try to somehow construct the network of people that they’ve been exposed to? How could you possibly do that fast enough and inform people fast enough for it to make a difference?.

Andrew Pascal

Covid Trace App Launch

That’s how he came up with the idea to develop a contact-tracing app that would make the health investigators’ job way easier. Pascal took his idea to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, the governor’s office, and the Nevada COVID Task Force.

The Task Force’s chair Jim Murren, who we is the former CEO of MGM Resorts International, and a good friend of Pascal for over 25 years, embraced the idea first and helped Pascal by getting the governor on board.

The parties involved managed to launch the app, despite some hesitancy around privacy issues. Google and Apple, known competitors, united to make this project a reality and offered technology for a notification system that would work on Android and iPhones.

How Does COVID Trace Work?

Google and Apple’s technology allows smartphones to anonymously exchange random tokens or IDs when users are nearby, determined by Bluetooth signals. The app uses an algorithm that calculates whether the user has been 6 feet from an infected individual over the day for at least 15 minutes.

Despite privacy concerns, no personal or location information is captured during the exchange of tokens. To help ensure the tokens are not used to identify a user or their location, they change every 10 to 20 minutes.

The App Helps to Prevent COVID Expansion

Now, how does it help slow down the spread of the virus? Well, those who test positive for the virus in the state are asked to use the COVID Trace app by collaborating health officials.

They give them a code to enter on their phones, and by doing that, users send a notification to all of the people they’ve been in contact with or nearby to alert them that there was a possible exposure.

The receivers of the notification are then advised what to do next. Julia Peek, the Public and Behavioral Health Division’s Deputy Administrator, encouraged the people in the state to use it.

Please help your neighbors, friends, and family stay safe and healthy by downloading the COVID Trace and encouraging others to download it as well. This is a great opportunity for Nevadans and our visitors to do more, one more thing to continue the fight against COVID to protect themselves and bring Nevada to reopen fully.

Julia Peek

PlayStudios And it’s Role in the Gambling Industry

PlayStudios, as introduced, is an international mobile online casino company headquartered in Hong Kong but with offices in Nevada, California, Israel, and Texas. In the US, it is known for its free casino app available on Facebook and mobile devices, myVEGAS, with millions of users.

With the creation of the Trace App, it can reduce the spread of COVID in Nevada. If casino operators encourage clients and employees to use it, they can provide an additional precaution measure, hopefully giving the gambling industry a boost in these challenging times.