Teachers being told to turn off NHS contact tracing app at work

[NebularNerd]

Has anyone else had this?
Presumably to avoid too many staff having to isolate if someone tests positive.

In a supermarket staff told to turn Bluetooth off while at work

300 contacts on the M3? I thought the app was only triggered if you spent 15 minutes within 2 metres of someone who's tested positive??

It might log that you were in the vicinity of those people but it’s not going to tell you to self isolate for any of those unless something very odd was happening at the time. So it doesn’t matter how many people it logs.

Thinking about it how do you know? As far as I can tell there’s nowhere on the app where it tells you how many people you’ve come into contact with.

We’re encouraged to download it, but supposed to turn contract tracing off when we get to work. Honestly, I think I might have remembered to switch it off twice.

@NebularNerd

300 contacts on the M3? I thought the app was only triggered if you spent 15 minutes within 2 metres of someone who's tested positive??

And I guess the app must be pretty useless if it is churning out false contacts for everyone. This isn't something I've heard about if it's true.

This does not detract from how shocking it is to be told to turn it off, though, when the reason is that your workplace don't want you to have to isolate.

Yep.

Thats about the sum total of it.

The app cant protect you from anything, if for no other reason that so many people in certain professions have been told not to download it...

Its utterly pointless. Its known to give a ridiculous number of 'false positives'.

It is quite right that teachers are being instructed not to download the tracing app.

Schools must stay open to avoid irreparable damage to the economy and DC’s life chances and life expectancy. This cannot happen if teachers are having to isolate every fine little Johnny gets the sniffles.

I would add the caveat that vulnerable teachers and D.C. should not be expected to attend school.

We've been told the same but it was phrased as not wanting to create false contacts. I.e. our stockrooms often face back to back so if you leave your phone in your bag it could quite easily be within 2m of someone else's phone.

@canigooutyet retail workers definitely have been.

@Ecosse

It is quite right that teachers are being instructed not to download the tracing app.

Schools must stay open to avoid irreparable damage to the economy and DC’s life chances and life expectancy. This cannot happen if teachers are having to isolate every fine little Johnny gets the sniffles.

I would add the caveat that vulnerable teachers and D.C. should not be expected to attend school.

That's nonsense. If Johnny has sniffles, no one at school has to isolate. If Johnny tests positive for Covid, his contacts at school will have to isolate whether they're using the app or not.

If Johnny tests positive for covid his teacher won’t have to isolate anyway because they are supposed to be 2m away and will get in trouble if they say otherwise.

@Ecosse

It is quite right that teachers are being instructed not to download the tracing app.

Schools must stay open to avoid irreparable damage to the economy and DC’s life chances and life expectancy. This cannot happen if teachers are having to isolate every fine little Johnny gets the sniffles.

I would add the caveat that vulnerable teachers and D.C. should not be expected to attend school.

Oh dear, back to school for you to read the guidelines! No one needs to isolate for a cold

@Ecosse Hardly believable again, everyone knows no one needs to isolate for the sniffles.

@noblegiraffe

If Johnny tests positive for covid his teacher won’t have to isolate anyway because they are supposed to be 2m away and will get in trouble if they say otherwise.

This is how our place are getting round the need for self isolating. We don’t feel safe.

Surely it's because there are supposedly already robust tracing procedures in schools, so teachers should turn off the app to avoid being told to isolate because they left their handbag in the staff room, or were close to someone but through a wall etc.

Maybe the English app is different, but here in NI you just get told to isolate with no information on when your contact was. So a teacher would have no idea if it's because she left her bag in the staffroom by mistake, or because the person at the next table in the cafe was positive.

DH has also been told to turn it off when in work - the app can't tell that lab benches are separated by perspex or that they're wearing PPE etc. Makes sense to me.

An employer telling staff not to download it full stop is different and completely unacceptable.

We were told to turn the bluetooth off when the phone is not on our person as lockers are in staffroom so it could just be the phones in close contact and not the people!

I've just uninstalled the app because I kept forgetting.

I also wondered, when I'm sitting in my livingroom I'm less than 2 metres from my neighbour through the wall who I have not even seen in about a month. Does the app sense walls?

DD had an alert the other night. She was in bed asleep. Obviously someone had walked past her flat who was positive!

Baaaaahhh she might have pinged someone the day or so before who only at that stage got a positive test. Clearly by the time you have a positive test you shouldn't be out and about.

@Baaaahhhhh

DD had an alert the other night. She was in bed asleep. Obviously someone had walked past her flat who was positive!

So are people who are positive deliberately walking around 'pinging' everyone?

We know that people deliberately infect people with HIV. Its not so hard to imagine someone pissed off at being positive and being told to isolate if they feel fine that they want to 'fuck everyone else up' under the current circumstances. Good will is gone and the harder it is to isolate for practical or financial reasons the more resentment and resistance breeds.

@Ecosse

It is quite right that teachers are being instructed not to download the tracing app.

Schools must stay open to avoid irreparable damage to the economy and DC’s life chances and life expectancy. This cannot happen if teachers are having to isolate every fine little Johnny gets the sniffles.

I would add the caveat that vulnerable teachers and D.C. should not be expected to attend school.

Well it's not going to alert you if a child has the sniffles is it? It only alerts you if someone gets a positive result and notifies the app.

My bag is left fairly close to those of two colleagues I work with who it's very hard to SD from with and masks not allowed. We haven't been asked to turn off the app while working.

I think in certain situations it's acceptable to ask staff to turn the Bluetooth off

• phones not on your person
• PPE/Perspex/walls etc that will protect you but your phone can still pick up the contact.

It's not acceptable if you have your phone in you and don't have other protection.

@canigooutyet

I wonder what other types of workers are getting advised to not download it.

Those working on public transport.

The notification happens when the person records the positive test! Not when the walk past 24 hours prior!

@Baaaahhhhh

DD had an alert the other night. She was in bed asleep. Obviously someone had walked past her flat who was positive!

Don’t think that’s how it works. Once you’ve had a positive test you add it on to the app and then it alerts the people you’ve been in contact with over the past couple of days.

The app isn't compulsory. Absolutely no one's business if you choose to use it or not.

I'm not fussed. Gives me more of an excuse not to download it. I don't have it , don't want it and have no intentions to get it.

@OpheliasCrayon

I'm not fussed. Gives me more of an excuse not to download it. I don't have it , don't want it and have no intentions to get it.

I have an iPhone 6 so don’t have it, but I wouldn’t download it even if I could. I don’t see anyone apart from close friends and family, and I would be contacted by them and by test and trace if they tested positive. I don’t go anywhere else because I simply don’t want to risk being told to isolate.