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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to ignore the notification?

312 replies

Doifollowrule · 04/07/2021 17:39

This morning I woke to find a notification on the NHS app telling me I'd been in contact with someone with Covid and need to isolate for 8 days. The only place that can have come from is a farm cafe on Thursday, out for lunch with DH, who does not have the app so has not been told to isolate so isn't going to. He's manager of a large pharmacy and they're on skeleton staff already and have been encouraged to delete app by big bosses. I'm a childminder so will be letting down parents if I close. I've had a pcr test this morning and I'm double vaccinated. The app says to isolate even if its negative as I could still develop covid. But seriously, what's the point of having had 2 vaccines if I'm still going to have to isolate?! But I am usually a stickler for the rules and worry about getting "caught." What do I do?

OP posts:
Thirtyrock39 · 04/07/2021 18:55

Personally I'd be really judgemental if my childminder messaged me saying they were considering ignoring isolating and would feel you were putting me in a really difficult position as then I'm having to make a risk assessment and moral decision. You need to decide one way or the other, could you risk being reported as well as people do talk even if they themselves aren't doing as they should ? It seems really risky to be open with your work about it.

AColdDuncanGoodhew · 04/07/2021 18:56

I’ve never had the app. I’ve worked with positive patients, within 2m for longer than 15 minutes in a standard face mask and don't have to isolate so i’m not isolating because i’ve walked by someone in Asda or sat across a restaurant from someone.

Alwayswonderedwhy · 04/07/2021 18:56

Ignore and delete the app.

Thirtyrock39 · 04/07/2021 18:56

I think you either keep schtum totally if you're not going to isolate or you isolate- I don't think there's a middle ground of 'I'll tell parents and they can decide'

ajandjjmum · 04/07/2021 18:57

I was pinged yesterday, and the only place I'd been on the day of contact was my volunteering shift at the vaccination centre. I was told that as I was wearing PPE I was exempt, and that everyone turns their app off when they're on duty. Now I know!

redsky21 · 04/07/2021 18:58

@thirtyrock39 reported for what? A notification from the app is not a legal requirement.

MordredsOrrery · 04/07/2021 18:59

You may be vaccinated but the children you "care" for are not. You can still carry and spread covid. They can catch it and possibly develop long covid (which is no joke). It's not all about you, it's about other people in the community, too.

butterpuffed · 04/07/2021 19:00

[quote dementedpixie]@nanbread the app is separate from test and trace.

The app uses Bluetooth to assess how close you are to another phone running the app and if they put in that they test positive then you get a notification to isolate. It can be a complete stranger that causes you to isolate.

Test and Trace ask you for your known contacts and then contacts them to tell them to isolate. Its a legal requirement to isolate if T&T tell you to do so. The app isn't legally binding as there are no names divulged so it won't know who has been told to isolate[/quote]
I'm still confused with the difference.

I have the app and it uses Bluetooth but it says NHS Test and Trace Covid 19.

Bunnyfuller · 04/07/2021 19:00

The govt are about to tell people ‘it’s up to you’. The rules are going to change, yes, the virus will carry on doing virus.

Ignore it, the govt are clearly no longer (were they ever) bothered, and in just over 2 weeks no one will be doing anything.

It’s farcical

championthewonderhorse70 · 04/07/2021 19:01

Just ignore it. If someone was vaguely anywhere hear you with their Bluetooth on it will
Ping. Mine did after an hour in a pub beer garden when the only person I was near was DH
I've deleted it now and didn't isolate

dementedpixie · 04/07/2021 19:03

The app is supposed to be a back up to the Test and Trace service and picks up contacts that you don't know but have been close to as you go about your day (using Bluetooth)

Test and Trace asks for contacts that are known to you

warmfluffytowels · 04/07/2021 19:04

@dementedpixie

The app is supposed to be a back up to the Test and Trace service and picks up contacts that you don't know but have been close to as you go about your day (using Bluetooth)

Test and Trace asks for contacts that are known to you

That may be the case, but there's still no legal requirement for anyone to isolate due to the app.

There's a reason lots of people don't have the app!

butterpuffed · 04/07/2021 19:04

Thanks @dementedpixie

dementedpixie · 04/07/2021 19:08

@warmfluffytowels I was trying to explain the difference to @butterpuffed. I never said it was legal requirement to isolate if told to do so by the app

IllForTooLong · 04/07/2021 19:08

The new ‘rules’ are allegedly that you dint have to self isolate if you have the two vaccines.

From the 19th July…..

I wouldn’t self isolate.

Rainallnight · 04/07/2021 19:09

I have a thread about this at the moment and so many people said they’d just deleted the app or turned off the scanning.

I got the ping yesterday. I just told our childminder who’s not taking my DS tomorrow. AAAAAAAAGGGGHHH

IllForTooLong · 04/07/2021 19:11

Btw, I also think the U.K. is doing an experiment that no other country has done. To hope that high vaccination levels will be enough to protect the whole of the country from the virus.

It’s a huge gamble.

It might be ok or it might be a disaster.

But god they are taking huge risks.

Squirrelblanket · 04/07/2021 19:12

Ignore it. And turn off contact tracing on the app. I have the app because places insist on you checking in with it, that's all.

Thirtyrock39 · 04/07/2021 19:12

redsky21 i would think that ofsted would have quite strict covid screening and infection control policies about this as any workplace does especially if people facing

Giraffe11 · 04/07/2021 19:13

I don’t know if it’s true but I was told that one of the flaws with the app is that once you have scanned the QR app when you arrive somewhere, it keeps you logged into that location until 11.59pm that same day. So you could go somewhere for a quick lunch, leave an hour later, and get contacted because someone who didn’t even visit the cafe until after you left tested positive! So I’m very suspicious about just how effective it is.

BUT why would you use the app and then decide to ignore it? Seems a bit pointless!

LadyPenelope68 · 04/07/2021 19:13

Of course you should isolate.
Do you not realise you can still get it even though you’ve had both vaccines?? I’ve a colleague who’s had both vaccines, currently really ill with Covid.

LadyCatStark · 04/07/2021 19:13

Ignore it and delete the app. If footballers and politicians don’t have to isolate then why should the rest of us? Take a lateral flow test each morning instead.

Santastealer · 04/07/2021 19:14

If you are going to ignore it then why have the app in the first place?

I’ve had contact tracing turned of since the start and will no be isolating unless informed by track and trace.

romdowa · 04/07/2021 19:15

The app is utterly rubbish, my friend hadn't left her house for a week and got a notification that she had been in contact with someone 🙄 she deleted it after that !

IllForTooLong · 04/07/2021 19:17

@LadyPenelope68

Of course you should isolate. Do you not realise you can still get it even though you’ve had both vaccines?? I’ve a colleague who’s had both vaccines, currently really ill with Covid.
I agree

But that’s not what our current government plan at all.
The plan is, doesn’t matter how ill you are, you are unlikely to die from it (with both vaccines) so let’s just let the virus get wild.

The problem is, if this is the position from our government, it will make it impossible for anyone who wants to take a more conservative approach to do so. How will you explain to your boss you are self isolating because of the app now?

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