Contact tracing

[midgebabe]

So one option could be

Squash the current epidemic to very low levels and then release from lockdown and use the test and contact trace to prevent a resurgence

Contact tracing however is a problem

Would you be prepared to have a contact tracing app on your phone ( data held for at least a month ) to facilitate this?

I am sure this was asked about 3 weeks ago, but I certainly have changed my mind

Does this apply to dumb phones as well please?

Yep. Whenever you have a mobile signal, your phone is "talking" to the nearest base station. Obviously any calls you make or receive will go through that base station, but even if you have no calls, your phone still needs to register it''s presence with the base station so that the calls can be put through to you. The government can access that information if they so wish, and essentially track your movements. If you've ever seen the TV show Hunted (game show where people try to disappear off the radar for a month), this is a technique they use a lot.

Powerslide thanks.

I have a dumb phone that’s switched off unless I need to make a call. Does it have a connection to a base station when off?

I’d go with it if it meant we could go back to work and school. Contact tracing is the only way out of lockdown

This doesn’t say anything about using phones for contact tracing

publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/02/13/expert-interview-what-is-contact-tracing/

Isn’t all this stuff we can already do without imposing on anyone? If you have any infectious disease, you’re going to be asked these questions.

If you have picked up campylobacter or something, you’ll be asked lots of questions to find others who might be affected and track the source of the problem.

It doesn’t have to be as ‘technical’ as that. Remember as well that plenty of the older generation won’t even carry a phone.

Here in NZ, just before we went into lockdown cafes and restaurants etc had started to implement a sign in sheet at the door - just asking for name and phone number. I think that’s what we’ll all have to start doing when we come out of lockdown. Businesses who aren’t able to implement something like this won’t be allowed to reopen

I'm pro the idea in principle, BUT I for one have no smart phone and we are in an area with patchy reception anyway, for example my neighbour's house is a complete black spot.

However I can't see people in this country liking the idea - privacy, data sharing and all that.

Does it have a connection to a base station when off?

No, only when on.

The idea of doing it through a mobile app is one that's been floated fairly recently. They think it would be effective enough with an uptake of around 50%. As per PP - there are other ways of doing it - I think China issued QR codes that you had to scan everywhere you went. But the benefit of an app is that the app itself could notify you if you've come into contact with a confirmed case.

I’m in a country that’s doing contact tracing (but not to China levels). My daughter was in contact with someone who subsequently tested positive and my daughter was called by the health authority where the girl lived and was asked a lot of questions and even tho she didn’t have any symptoms was told she should be tested immediately (it was negative). The girl had had to tell them every person she’d been in contact with for the previous 10 days and every one of them was contacted.
My daughter got the test quickly at our doctor and was then called at 9.30 at night by the health authority to check she’d had it done and if not they were going to come round and do it.

I get this requires huge manpower but it’s doing a good job of catching cases early and properly quarantining them and it’s keeping the death rates low

Thanks Panda

I thought contact tracing was entirely based on phones till I read that article. So yes, I’m fine with contact tracing.

It seems I thought the tech was more advanced than it is.

What’s described in the PHE document is pretty basic, I can’t understand why it wasn’t done here. The more I find out, the more lockdown looks like the worst option and the more baffled I am by the whole thing.

What’s described in the PHE document is pretty basic, I can’t understand why it wasn’t done here. The more I find out, the more lockdown looks like the worst option and the more baffled I am by the whole thing.

The government's original strategy was to let the disease rip through the population and achieve herd immunity. By the time the strategy changed, it had become too widespread for contact tracing to be effective. We need lockdown to get the cases back to a level where contact tracing could work again, and hope that we do a good enough job of it to avoid the need to lock down for a second time.

Couldn’t people who have it be questioned about where they’d been etc

Could large gatherings stay banned - say over 20 people - and apart from that, go about our normal business?

This is pretty much what Iceland has been doing - though there is an app now, most of it's been done just by asking people. Everyone who is identified as having potentially been exposed is quarantined. Over 50% of new cases are diagnosed in people who were already in quarantine. Which means it's working really well to slow down the spread.

Lots of testing and contact tracing means that our 'lockdown' is less draconian than other countries, although life is far from normal of course. And it's working better, looks like we are already over the peak.

Yes, China uses qr codes. My dh comes out of quarantine tomorrow and his code will be green and he can then access other compounds etc. Should he then have contact with someone who develops symptoms and tests positive, bye bye green code and hello testing and self isolation.
As China already knows everything thing there is to know about me and dh there is no point in worrying about this app.

Yes, Shanghai, I’ve seen your posts about how much you enjoy living in a not democracy.

I do like living in China, that is true.
There are challenges and frustrations, but I have found it to be a very rewarding and fascinating experience.

It's too late for that to work for the uk now and our lockdown is not strict enough for us to reach the kind of levels where you can press reset and start again

Tbh that might end up being a good thing. It will be difficult for countries like NZ to open up their borders when it means acknowledging that means letting corona back in. Their alternative isn't great for a country reliant on tourism. A vaccine is a good while away. I say that to help us feel better about our own situation. I would have preferred NZ dilemma I think.