Safer Badgers App Description and Privacy Notice

App Description

Safer Badgers is the official COVID-19 app for the University of Wisconsin in Madison and Dane County. The app provides pandemic resources to support community health and safety.

The app allows you to receive your virus test results, manage future tests, and make contact with health response teams and health care providers. It uses Bluetooth, wifi, and GPS technology to help notify potential exposures to COVID-19.

You can use the app to access information about test locations and COVID-19 guidelines for your county.

A symptom scale supports automated self-assessments.

Privacy Notice

INTRODUCTION: BY INSTALLING, USING OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING THE SAFER BADGERS APPLICATION OR WEBSITE FROM ANY DEVICE, MOBILE OR OTHERWISE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO ABIDE BY THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND CONDITIONS OF THIS PRIVACY NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT DOWNLOAD AND/OR ACCESS OUR APPLICATION. BY USING THIS APPLICATION, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO THE COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY NOTICE.

This Privacy Notice sets forth how your information is collected, used, transferred, and stored through the mobile application and website titled “SAFER BADGERS” (“Application”) and the terms and conditions governing your use of the Application. The Safer Badgers app was built to support the university response to COVID-19 and includes tasks such as making testing appointments, sharing test results, facilitating building access and contact tracing.

The Safer Badgers app is the official COVID-19 app for the students, employees, and affiliates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with Public Health Madison and Dane County.

The purpose of this Application is to:

  • Provide you with the ability to track your COVID-19 testing history and to display your color-coded status on the Application home screen. The status is set as green, yellow or red based on your test results and your exposure to others, and will be used to help determine if you are permitted to access University facilities.
  • Provide you with the ability to voluntarily participate in an exposure notification system using anonymous identifiers exchanged over Bluetooth. When a positive test appears in your testing history, your anonymous identifiers are shared with other users of the Application. As the sender of these anonymous identifiers, your personally identifiable information will not be shared.
  • Provide you notification if your phone finds a match between the anonymous identifiers with other users and the list of anonymous identifiers submitted by users who tested positive. As the receiver of these anonymous identifiers, you will not know who or when the exposure occurred, only that an exposure did occur.
  • Provide you with recommendations and next steps based on your status and based on the latest guidelines from the local county health department.
  • Provide you with the ability to privately track any COVID-19 symptoms you are experiencing.

This Privacy Notice is subject to the University’s Privacy Notice at https://www.wisc.edu/privacy-notice.

1. What information may the Application collect from you?

You are not required to provide the personal information requested by the Application; however, you may not be able to use some of the features offered by the Application if you choose not to provide your personal information. By providing us with your personal information, you are consenting to our use of it in accordance with this Privacy Notice and the UW-Madison Privacy Notice.

  • The Safer Badgers app uses GPS to provide the user interactive maps and outdoor geofenced notifications to find test locations.
  • The Safer Badgers app uses SSID/BSSID (wifi) to provide geofenced notifications to indoor test locations where GPS does not work.
  • The Safer Badgers app uses Bluetooth to enable opt in exposure notifications of close contact with individuals that test positive for COVID-19.
  • The Safer Badgers app uses Photos and Camera to allow a user to import their personal encryption key (QR code) in to the app and to allow reporting of a test result from a non UW-Madison testing center.
  • The Safer Badgers app uses Videos and Camera to allow a user to import their personal encryption key (QR code) in to the app and to allow reporting of a test result from a non UW-Madison testing center.
  • The Safer Badgers app uses Files to allow a user to import their personal encryption key (QR code) in to the app and to allow reporting of a test result from a non UW-Madison testing center.
  • Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”). “Personally Identifiable Information” for purposes of this Privacy Notice means information that can be used to identify, contact, or locate an individual, as well as test results and reported symptoms. The Application collects the following PII from you, from University information systems, and from your healthcare provider: your name, your email address, your phone number, your local physical address, your NetID, student registration information, your test results, information required by the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services, any voluntarily reported symptoms, and your building access status.
  • Location. Location services on your device must be turned on to activate the Bluetooth low energy technology necessary for the exposure notification function of the Application. However, the Application does not access, collect, or store any location data, including GPS data. If location services on your device are turned off, the Application will perform the limited functions of storing and providing information about COVID-19 test results, any voluntarily reported symptoms, and building access status.
  • Automatic Collection of Non-Personal Information (“non-PII”). The Application may collect certain non-personal information automatically that may not, on its own, permit direct association with any specific individual. The following are some examples of non-personal information that may be collected: usage, including frequency of access, duration, and time of access. By using the Application, you are consenting to the collection, use, and disclosure, of non-personal information by the Application.
  • Your Data. All PII and non-PII data will be stored on either Amazon Web Services or UW-Madison Division of Information Technology servers (“Servers”). Your PII and non-PII will also be stored in the Application. In particular:
    • Your test results and reported symptoms are stored encrypted on Servers and are decrypted only on your device by this Application when you want to view the history.
    • Your anonymous tokens are collected on your mobile device and transmitted and stored on the Servers after you receive a positive test result. The Applications of other participating users (i.e., other users of the Application) download the list of anonymous tokens periodically from the Servers, for comparison to those the Application collected on their mobile devices.
    • We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the PII submitted to the Application. No method of transmission, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
    • How are Your Test Results Submitted to the Application? UW-Madison University Health Services sponsored test results are sent automatically to the Application. Additionally the Application supports a manual upload of positive test results (typically from off-campus test locations), to be reviewed and/or acted upon by a UW-Madison University Health Services medical professional.

2. How is Your Information used?

Your PII is used to establish and display your building access status, to determine your compliance with the required testing frequency, and to facilitate exposure notifications. Your building access status is established based on your compliance of your assigned testing frequency, test results, your self-reported symptoms, and any recent exposure notifications you receive (either automated or from contact tracers). Non-PII may be used for statistical analysis related to use of the Application and for research related to the COVID-19 pandemic subject to applicable law and University policy.

3. Is Your Personally Identifiable Information Shared?

Your NetID, your name, your building access status, and your compliance with testing frequency, are shared with the University’s alternative building access web application, and other university systems needed to track compliance. This information is stored on Servers to support consistent and efficient building access and compliance tracking. Your personal information requested in the app is shared along with your test results to public health authorities and the University. The remainder of your PII is not shared and is stored on Servers in encrypted format and can only be decrypted on your mobile device.

4. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. If we change this Privacy, your continued use of the Application after any such changes will constitute your acceptance of the updated Privacy Notice. If you do not wish to accept the revised Privacy Notice, you must not use or access (or continue to use or access) our Application. Please regularly check our Application or website to determine if the Privacy Notice has been updated and to review those changes before deciding whether or not to access (or continue to access) the Application.

Need Help?

Email: covidresponse@vc.wisc.edu

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