Self Contact Tracing

[FusionChefGeoff]

I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks about the complete absence of contact tracing in our current strategy?

It would cost nothing to encourage 'self contact tracing' as we do for eg chicken pox. If DC develop spots you send a quick text to any family / friends you've seen recently and tell school / nursery etc.

Why aren't we being encouraged to do that for confirmed or even suspected cases??

There’s an app to do it for you.

But so far I haven't heard any part of the government advice which says 'if you develop symptoms, you should alert your employer / anyone you've spent time with over the past 7 days' etc.

Isn't the app still something that's due to be launched or is it already available?

Yes, you would normally. But if I came down with coronavirus it wouldnt be family and friends I have been in contact with because I have been social distancing as has everyone else. It would be the guy in the Spar, the woman in Budgens and the randoms I passed as I went on my walk/ ride - and I don't have any of their numbers.

But lots of people are still working...?

And before lockdown there was a period of 'social distancing' and self isolation advice which also didn't feature any hint of contact tracing.

Just feels like a missed opportunity to further slow it down I guess..

It's really strange that it's not being done in the UK as it's a big part of most country's strategies and the WHO have said counties should ensure they have a robust contact tracing strategy in place before lessening restrictions.

I'm in Ireland and once you get a phone call with a positive result you then get a phone call an hour or so later from the contact tracing team who take details of all your close contacts within the last 14 days. Those close contacts are then called by the contact tracing team, advised to go to GP if they have symptoms but in any case to self isolate for 14 days.

Yes that's the sort of thing I would hope for. But that pro active contact tracing takes money and resources - just asking the public to do a bit of self contact tracing needs neither - so it's even more bizarre that it's not been part of the plan.

I've just read this article on my news app (from Sunday Times but don't know how to share token links directly) - hope the link works

apple.news/AxYWnNdwpTO-3IWKLxS27ng

It basically says gov has acknowledged that contact tracing is the answer to lifting lockdown and is training a huge task force to do it.

And yet no change to the official advice to encourage self contact tracing?! I don't get it!!

Surely if they say that contact tracing is key, why on earth don't they start encouraging the public to do their own 'contact tracing' if they've developed symptoms?!