As Enumclaw’s COVID-19 cases continue to climb, a new smartphone app may help you determine whether you’ve been exposed to someone with the virus.

“Washington Exposure Notifications (also known as WA Notify) is a new tool that works through smartphones, without sharing any personal information, to alert users if they may have been exposed to COVID-19,” read the Washington state Department of Health’s website. “It is completely private, and doesn’t know or track who you are or where you go.”

Here’s how WA Notify, which was launched Monday, Nov. 30, works:

First, you have to download the app to your phone, which will differ depending on what operating system you may have. Android users can head to the Google Play Store to download the app, while iPhone users need to head into their phone settings, scroll down to “exposure notifications”, select “turn on exposure notifications” and select Washington state.

Once the app is downloaded or exposure notifications are turned on, you must turn on your bluetooth — WA Notify will not work if bluetooth is not enabled on your phone.

So long as your bluetooth is on, the app will start sharing random codes with other smartphone users who are also using WA Notify.

When someone tests positive for COVID-19, a public health representative will reach out to that individual to ask if they use the app. If so, the health care representative will give that individual a verification code to enter into WA Notify.

Once the user does so, anyone else using WA Notify that has been near the infected user for a significant length of time in the past 14 days will receive an anonymous alert that they may have been exposed to the virus.

Those that receive the alert will also be sent a link to information about what to do to protect themselves and others.

These alerts and links do not contain any information about who tested positive or where the exposure may have occurred.

While the Google Play Store describes WA Notify as a contact tracing app, the state DOH says this is inaccurate.

“Contact tracing identifies who a person that tests positive for COVID-19 has been in contact with. WA Notify does not track or trace information about the people you are in contact with, so it doesn’t do ‘contact tracing,’” the DOH website reads. “The app doesn’t collect or exchange any personal information, so it isn’t possible for any entity to know who you have been in contact with.”

A recent study about digital exposure notifications claims apps like WA Notify can help reduce infections and deaths, though the study has not been peer reviewed.

The study modeled three counties — King, Pierce, and Snohomish, the Washington counties with the highest COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, if not confirmed cases — and determined that if 15 percent of smartphone users use WA Notify, infections and death rates may shrink by as much as 8 and 6 percent respectively.