The Isle of wight App

[Toomuchtrouble4me]

I have downloaded the Isle of Wight Virus tracking App but now I'm confused as to how this spreads. We are told to distance in the street, parks, queues etc as if we can catch this virus just by sharing close airspace for a passing moment. And yet the App will only notify me if I have been in contact with a person (who is later symptomatic) for at least 15 minutes.
So either, it takes 15 mins of contact to get it, or the App is useless and shouldn't be rolled out countrywide.
Also, despite a long list of symptoms including sore throat, diarrhea, and loss of taste and smell, the only symptoms that you can report on the app, for which you get someone come round with a test kit, are cough and fever. Has anyone else been confused by this?

I don’t understand this either. The virus is supposed to be so contagious that you can get it by passing someone in a supermarket at 1m for 0.5 seconds (remember that digital reconstruction showing the viral spread across aisles). So won’t all these cases / transmissions be missed by the app?

I suppose it’s to do with probability. They can’t set the criteria too low, otherwise millions of people will keep having to isolate every couple of weeks.

I do get the need to restrict the symptoms reported though. Otherwise thousands of people with hay fever and colds will be causing others to isolate for two weeks unnecessarily.

They should add anosmia to the symptoms now that it's been officially recognised.

The app can't be designed to catch every incidence of transmission.

It's simply another part of the overall strategy to reduce the R number.

I think the expectation for absolutes is unrealistic given this virus hasn’t been studied for even six months yet.

Research indicates it’s unlikely to transmit from brief contact but close prolonged contact increases that risk. Neither factors are set in stone. A wide array of symptoms have been reported so the most frequent ones have been included as ones to treat with a degree of caution and trigger a test.

You might be unlikely to catch anything walking past someone in the street but that chance increases if they cough/sneeze/exhale deeply as you walk past them and the prevalence in the community is high.

The app is as much research as it is a prevention tool and I would expect it to become more streamlined as concrete data from various sources and countries emerges over time but there has to be a balance in the meantime to allow it to help society function.

I do get the need to restrict the symptoms reported though. Otherwise thousands of people with hay fever and colds will be causing others to isolate for two weeks unnecessarily
No - because they will bring a test within 24 hours so then you only isolate if it's positive.