Contact tracing, a rant

[John915]

Good afternoon,

Maybe i'm wrong but I thought they contacted those shown as being in close proximity. Then suggested getting tested if they also show symptons.

John915

[groom]

From what they said on the radio today, what will happen on the IOW is that if you think you have symptoms you use the App to inform the the health authority. They send some one round to test you immediately and the results will be known in 24 hours. If you are then shown to be positive, the App then sends an alert to everyone that you have been in contact with for a significant time, to warn them to self isolate. Those people will not know who you are.

[Pheno]

Have you seen the report about the fact that the UK are using a different app to the rest of Europe and they are not compatible.  There is a suggestion that Britons will not be able to go abroad without self isolating for 14 days on arrival because the other countries won't be able to notify you or be notified about you due to the discrepancy in technology.

How true I don't know, but hopefully it will also happen the other way around with people wantng to come into the UK.

Pheno

[pharmaT]

Have you seen the report about the fact that the UK are using a different app to the rest of Europe and they are not compatible.  There is a suggestion that Britons will not be able to go abroad without self isolating for 14 days on arrival because the other countries won't be able to notify you or be notified about you due to the discrepancy in technology.

How true I don't know, but hopefully it will also happen the other way around with people wantng to come into the UK.

Pheno

That wouldn't surprise me, they a have a track record of deliberately doing something differently just to be different.  They also have a track record of producing IT that is incompatible with other systems.

[arthurk]

One of the things that concerns me a bit about this app is the proportion of people who develop symptoms, get tested, and are then found not to have the virus.
….
Please can someone explain whether this has been properly thought through? Or have I missed something?

Your contact data is only sent out when you have been diagnosed with COVID19, not when you have symptoms.

That's not what it says at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/nhs-covid-19-app-explainer -

Once you’ve installed the app on your phone, it can detect (using Bluetooth) if other phones that are also running the app are nearby.

Importantly, the app knows how close it has been to other phones running the app, and for how long. This allows the app to build up an idea of which of these phones owners are most at risk.

If you then use the app to report that you’re experiencing coronavirus symptoms, all the phones that have been nearby will receive an alert from the app.

Users reading the alert will now know they may have been near a person with coronavirus, and can then self-isolate.

If the NHS later discovers that your diagnosis was wrong (and your reported symptoms are not coronavirus), the other users will receive another alert, letting them know if they can stop self-isolating.

[Llwyd]

You can discuss the pros and cons and think of all the negatives and positives, together with all the whys and wherefores, until the cows come home but the long and short of it is, if you have a smart phone, do I sign up or not?. Some will, some won't. I'm not signing up because I don't possess a smart phone because, like others, I do not feel that it would somehow make my life immeasurably better.
 

[arthurk]

I don't have a smartphone either, but I was trying to imagine what it would be like to have to go into full isolation when there was an 80% chance of it being a false alarm.

And what about workplaces - each time a member of staff gets a cough, the whole workforce might potentially have to isolate, so they'd probably have to close down until the test results came back. 80% chance of going back to work then - and next day someone else gets a cough. Repeat ad nauseam...?

OK, we've got to get out of lockdown somehow, but is this really the best way to do it?

[groom]

If you then use the app to report that you’re experiencing coronavirus symptoms, all the phones that have been nearby will receive an alert from the app.

Users reading the alert will now know they may have been near a person with coronavirus, and can then self-isolate.

That is absolutely ridiculous if that happens, as quite a large percentage of those tested prove to be negative. So if the app reacts when people think they have the symptoms and warns people, everyone could be in and out of isolation like a yoyo. People will soon get fed up with that and will either switch it off or ignore it. Far better to wait 24 hours until it is confirmed or otherwise. That is what a health official on the IOW said  was happening.

[arthurk]

So who's right?