Will you be signing up for the contact tracing service?

[hyacinthbouquetsbucket]

If you have a smart phone will you be signing up for the government/Apple/Android contact tracing service to be alerted if you've been in contact somebody with Covid 19?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52294896

Yes, fine by me, it's the least I could do to help.

Yes that’s my concern StrawberryBlondeStar. DH commutes from the midlands into London. A bus, a train then 2 underground trains, each way. I have visions of him coming in contact with it every day and we’ll never be able to leave the house!

@HoffiCoffi13
Well exactly my point too...I want to know if I've had it or not so I don't have to worry about the 60 daily contacts with it on the tube!

Maybe..... it seems way too late though - the virus is already everywhere and testing is woefully insufficient (understatement), so it seems a little bit pointless now. Maybe if we’d got this going at the end of February it would have made sense. But now, lots of us may have had it but were never tested, we’ll now be immune so there’d be no point in us self-isolating because we were on the bus near a confirmed case, it just needlessly takes us out of the economy for 2 weeks (those of us still going to work). At the same time masses of unconfirmed & asymptomatic cases are wandering about untested anyway so wouldn’t be picked up by this app.

This would only work if we can all get tested on request, either swabbed if we’re asymptotic/known exposure to confirmed case or a reliable antibody test if we suspect we’ve already had it. Without proper mass testing, this app seems pointless to my eyes. Happy if anyone can explain differently!

What Jollyhostess said.
They need to bring out antibody test, otherwise it's pointless.

The idea only works if the level of virus in circulation is low enough that you don't get a significant contact every time you travel on the tube

And having a few 2 week isolation spells over the next 18 months seems better than having to go through another multiple month lockdowns

Even in London the number of people who have already had it is probably very small.

So the chances of anyone having to unnecessarily isolate then become very small

And under the assumption that you only have low levels circulating, then the tests currently focused on hospital admissions can then be used for any potential carrier

We may need more testing than we have now, but if we keep scaling capacity, it's quite possible we will get there

There is talk about a wearable device/wristband for people who don't have a suitable smartphone but would like to participate

Yes definitely

Google and Apple have both refused to work with the government, because unlike other governments they want to be able to identify users from their phone data.

It therefore means that the app will only work if the screen of the phone is active, and the app is active. Very limiting then.

I absolutely would but it will only work if enough people sign up to it and there is enough testing capacity so that people are only told to self-isolate for confirmed cases. Otherwise we're going to be constantly alerted that we need to self-isolate just because somebody we were in the same tube carriage has got a touch of hayfever. It will become like the boy who cried wolf and people will stop bothering really quickly.

@JollyHostess yes like you, I think I’ve had it so I’m not sure I’d really want to go in and out of isolation pointlessly.

Even in London the number of people who have already had it is probably very small.
Even the low level estimates I’ve seen say 5-10%. 1 in 1 or 1 in 20 isn’t that rare.

I saw 4%.

And the point remains , without an antibody test, we either have occasional 2 week isolations because of contact tracing or recurrent complete lockdowns without contact tracing. Which would you rather?

If you have antibody tests, you could be excused either

It's a trade of your privacy and your physical freedom I guess

midgebabe as long as employers don’t penalise those who have to self isolate (therefore in many cases not work) for a couple of weeks at a time on what could be a fairly regular basis.

If they start testing people so that it is actually worth doing at some point, ever, yes.

I don't have a smart phone but I'd be happy to wear some sort of wristband to participate. It might infringe my civil liberties but so does dying; besides there is CCTV all over the place in this country, so we're not exactly unobserved at the moment!

Yes. I would be keen to sign up.

I have absolutely no problem with anyone knowing where I go and when. I have nothing to hide. I presume most law abiding people also have nothing to hide.

I always wonder what the people who shout so loudly about their rights to privacy are actually doing.

I'm not likely to bump in to ICU patients in Tesco.

Although the lack of help for the self isolating who can't get tested and have to go to the shops to eat ...

The idea only works if the level of virus in circulation is low enough that you don't get a significant contact every time you travel on the tube

this is why I think this approach will only work in the immediate future in countries like Aus and NZ (and obvs already implemented in Korea and Singapore), incredibly low community transmission but very very high testing (per population) and detailed tracing occurring. It's a end game suppression/elimination measure. I just can't fathom in countries in The UK and US it would be overly effective without widespread population testing

And for all those howling at the govt ‘mishandling’ of the crisis and pointing to South Korea .....this is why.
It would be totally pointless in this country; people would avoid being tested and/or refuse to isolate. In south Korea they collect and forceably quarantine people or sealed up whole buildings with people inside and refused to let them leave whilst tracking everyone has they have full and unlimited access to your phone & banking data!
But yes, let’s be more like South Korea!!

Yes, I will.

I'm happy to but I can't see the point unless everyone, or almost everyone does. Unless it is compulsory I can't see it working and that would mean everyone has to have a smart phone.

Nope