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\"Contact tracing can help slow the spread of COVID-19 and can be done without compromising user privacy,\" Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet.

Cook added that they are working with Google \"to help health officials harness Bluetooth technology in a way that also respects transparency & consent.\"

To help public health officials slow the spread of #COVID19, Google & @Apple are working on a contact tracing approach designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy. @tim_cook and I are committed to working together on these efforts.https://t.co/T0j88YBcFu

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 10, 2020

Google CEO Sundar Pichai echoed Cook's sentiments in a separate tweet, writing that his company's contact tracing approach is \"designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy.\"

Contact tracing is an incredibly important tool in traditional efforts in epidemiological investigations, according to Dr. John Brownstein, an ABC News contributor and the chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital.

\"Contact tracing is something that has been done for a long time,\" Brownstein said. \"Obviously, with the advent of the mobile phone, that becomes a natural sort of beacon for understanding who you have had some interaction with.\"

Contact tracing technology was used early and effectively when the COVID-19 outbreak hit South Korea, according to Brownstein. That likely helped infections plateau there more quickly there than in other areas.

\"They were really on top of it and had a huge investment from the mobile companies that have an incredibly high amount of data on your location and your contacts,\" Brownstein said. \"In the U.S. we sort of missed the boat on contact tracing.\"

\"You have so many cases, so the efforts to monitor contacts for so many cases is incredibly challenging,\" Brownstein added. \"But as the cases comes down, if social distancing works, we could be in a world where contact tracing could be effective.\"

Brownstein said that although it's \"really exciting to see Google and Apple working together,\" in order for these apps to be effective and provide an accurate picture, they must be widely used.

\"The big challenge, I think, is that there are a lot of contact tracing applications that are becoming available to the consumer,\" he said. \"They have to decide that they are willing to download this. They have to opt in.\"

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