SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) encourages residents to download the NM Notify app and to report positive COVID-19 home tests on the app.

Approximately 760,000 New Mexicans are already using the app to be notified if they’ve likely been exposed, allowing them to reduce the risk for their loved ones, seek timely medical attention, and stay home.

The app uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with other phones that have activated the app. Then, if one of the users verifies an infection of COVID-19, all users that have been in contact with the infected person within a 14-day period will receive a notification of possible exposure. The app then directs users on next steps to prevent additional spread of COVID-19.

The NM Notify app is completely safe and anonymous, and fully protects users’ privacy. No personal data is collected through the app. The app is in wide use in many states and around the globe. According to Google and Apple data, every two downloads of the app can prevent one infection.

To learn more about the NM Notify Exposure Notification app, go to NMNotify.com.

“DOH does strongly encourage all New Mexicans to use the NM Notify app on their mobile device to report any positive home test. When activated on a smartphone, the app alerts individuals when they have been exposed to someone who has verified that they are infected with COVID-19,” said David R. Scrase, M.D., Acting Secretary of Health.  “This application automatically creates contact tracing. The state plans to continue the use of the NM Notify app going forward as we believe it has great potential for managing the spread of COVID-19 as well as any future outbreaks.”

New Mexico will continue to evaluate COVID-19 throughout the state by monitoring trends such as:  geographic and demographic trends, wastewater surveillance, hospitalization reports, ventilation usage, and mortality rates, which are more effective benchmarks at this phase of the pandemic, particularly due to increased use of at-home testing rendering the daily case count and positivity rates incomplete.

In addition, effective this week, DOH will no longer be using the online self-reporting tool for COVID-19 rapid home tests on its website.