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Original poster

'Couples pinged on the eve of their wedding must isolate'

99 replies

TheVampiresWife · 22/07/2021 12:46

Would you?

I'd be deleting the app if I were due to get married (if I had it which I don't, after being through-the-wall-pinged last winter).

OP posts:
toocold54 · 22/07/2021 14:39

I would assume someone getting married would be isolating as much as possible in the 2 weeks leading up to the wedding for this very reason.

I would also see what the wedding situation is like and amend it somehow so all of the guests can still attend. Eg could they all do it outside considering it’s lovely weather. I know lots of weddings are being screened so people can watch on live video - so the bride and groom could say their vows in a different room and everyone can watch it on screens.

Nat6999 · 22/07/2021 14:56

Delete the app, do a LFT test to make sure & enjoy the wedding. The app is about as accurate as someone playing darts in the dark.

Gillgardens · 22/07/2021 14:58

If I was getting married I would have turned off contact tracing or deleted the app to ensure this wouldn’t happen!

I was just thinking although I am CEV and have been shielding for much of the last 18 months, and certainly not attended any social occasions, I probably would have made an exception if one of my children, or grandchildren, were getting married. So if others think like me weddings are the most likely social occasion that elderly relatives and people that are CEV are likely to attend. Could not turning off contact tracing make it a little more dangerous for elderly/CEV wedding guests? Don't know if that makes sense (hell NOTHING makes sense lately!!).

HelloMissus · 22/07/2021 15:00

A ping is advisory only.
If you’re contacted directly by T&T as being named as a close contact to a positive test then yes you have to self isolate.

cushioncovers · 22/07/2021 17:21

Nope I wouldn't isolate I'd delete the app and get on with my wedding.

BogRollBOGOF · 22/07/2021 19:38

@5zeds

Is turning off your smoke alarm going to prevent a fire? That about sums it up.
If I know that the smoke alarm is going off because my bacon is ready, I don't evacuate the house and dial 999.
5zeds · 22/07/2021 19:57

1 in 3 pinged develop Covid in the next 10 days. You have no idea if your bacon is ready or you’re about to watch your house burn and possibly kill or injure your friends and family.

Original poster
TheVampiresWife · 22/07/2021 20:09

@5zeds

1 in 3 pinged develop Covid in the next 10 days. You have no idea if your bacon is ready or you’re about to watch your house burn and possibly kill or injure your friends and family.
So would you isolate if you were pinged in the circumstances I mentioned upthread?
OP posts:
5zeds · 22/07/2021 20:16

So would you isolate if you were pinged in the circumstances I mentioned upthread?
If my wedding would be delayed? Yes of course. There’s no way on Gods earth I’d go ANYWHERE NEAR my parents, elderly relatives and friends if I thought there was a 1 in 3 chance I’d be carrying Covid.

BogRollBOGOF · 22/07/2021 20:25

@5zeds

1 in 3 pinged develop Covid in the next 10 days. You have no idea if your bacon is ready or you’re about to watch your house burn and possibly kill or injure your friends and family.
Standing by the bacon watching it cook and thinking "ooh, I'd better shut the kitchen do-" tends to be a pretty good guide that it is the bacon and not a co-incidental issue such as electrical fault arising at the same time.

Likewise, if I knew that I had been in no situation that would be a close contact, and it was probably triggered by the neighbour cleaning out their garage while I sit in a particular spot on the sofa with virus defying brick and breeze block walls between us, then yes, I would ignore.
If the ping went off and was triggered by a genuine close contact, that would be different.

(Not that I have the app anyway and spend most of my social time sufficiently distanced from others in outdoor spaces where the risk is very low. CBA with the palaver of dealing with indoor spaces at present)

Original poster
TheVampiresWife · 22/07/2021 20:34

@5zeds

So would you isolate if you were pinged in the circumstances I mentioned upthread? If my wedding would be delayed? Yes of course. There’s no way on Gods earth I’d go ANYWHERE NEAR my parents, elderly relatives and friends if I thought there was a 1 in 3 chance I’d be carrying Covid.
So you'd cancel your wedding if you were pinged when you hadn't left the house for over a week because you're already isolating from being pinged previously, or because your ndn (who you've never even spoken to) tested positive and again, you'd not been out for days? Rightyoh Hmm
OP posts:
UmteenthUser · 22/07/2021 20:44

There is no must about it as ping by the app is not law, which seems to have been forgotten. I deleted the thing a long while ago, it doesn't even know if you are wearing a mask, how rubbish is that

beentoldcomputersaysno · 22/07/2021 20:58

I'd try to isolate as much as poss in the run up to the wedding. If I knew I hadn't been anywhere and got randomly pinged due to a neighbour etc, then that would be different. I'd be heartbroken to cancel, but on balance it would be my nearest and dearest at the wedding, so I would not want to risk passing on covid. If I did go ahead, I would tell guests, so that they can decide. I find it stranger that in a few weeks, known contacts will be free to spread anyway, so the whole thing also seems mad to me! If one in three pinged go on to develop covid, that's a sign the app is working.

UmteenthUser · 22/07/2021 21:03

You can guarantee he would have had some get out clause up his sleeve if it had been his wedding

whatthehelldowecare · 22/07/2021 21:04

I'm getting married a week tomorrow and have deleted the app

Original poster
TheVampiresWife · 22/07/2021 21:20

@whatthehelldowecare

I'm getting married a week tomorrow and have deleted the app
Congratulations! Flowers
OP posts:
BoredZelda · 22/07/2021 23:36

Absolutely, if the smoke alarm sometimes alerted you to the fact that you'd at some point been near someone who went on to be in a house fire.

Which isn’t an appropriate analogy as that’s not what smoke alarms do.

They won’t distinguish between toast burning or curtains burning but you don’t take the batteries out to stop it going off when your toast burns.

5zeds · 23/07/2021 00:10

I’m not sure why answering the OP needs any more justification. I’ve said what I would do and that’s what was asked. I expect those deleting the app have family/friends who aren’t particularly vulnerable or didn’t lose anyone in the last year. I’m a firm believer that group action can change outcomes. Getting a bit more control of the situation involves changing how we behave. I think it’s the attitudes expressed on this thread that are actually making the app a less useful tool. It’s a shame because it’s worked well elsewhere and the alternatives are obviously more cases and deaths and if it’s the only effective stop, more lockdowns.

Blessex · 23/07/2021 05:22

I don’t understand all this pinging, Genuine questions below.

  • do people still get paid if they are off work isolating because of a ping?
  • I thought signing in etc stopped on Monday 19th? Did it?
  • and are you saying that the app geo-tracks you so even if not signing in - you are near someone else who tests positive - then it knows where you were and pings you?
  • if so many people have switched this app off and we don’t need to sign in anymore why are so many still isolating?
UmteenthUser · 23/07/2021 06:01

Signing in did stop on Monday, I went to M&S cafe yesterday and the QR code thing had disappeared, though some places are still encouraging you to sign in though so some will still be doing that. Some will still have the app even without realising, DH is one of these types of people who would put something on his phone and forget about it, he rarely watches the news and watches some of the Boris statements but probably would not even know that people are being pinged here, there and everywhere. We both deleted the app ages ago, you could see it wasn't fit for purpose from the start when people got those random messages from it that were errors.

Blessex · 23/07/2021 07:06

Do you think there is a correlation between people being pinged and nice weather ?

User56439876 · 23/07/2021 07:23

@Blessex

Do you think there is a correlation between people being pinged and nice weather ?
Definitely, especially amongst those who get fully paid
HelloMissus · 23/07/2021 07:26

Blessex I’ve been out to eat x 3 this week and wasn’t asked to scan QR or sign in at any of the restaurants.

OddBoots · 23/07/2021 07:33

@cheezy

The app is notoriously inaccurate - one in three people pinged develop Covid, states the article.

You'd surely do a test first before cancelling your wedding??

I think it shows we all have a different attitude to risk as 1 in 3 sounds like a significant number to me - that may be because I have a CEV family member though.
RichardMarxisinnocent · 23/07/2021 07:35

This isn't really true though, when we consider that people have been pinged because of being in the flat next door to someone who has tested positive.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's not fit for purpose and not doing what it's supposed to do. The app has no way of knowing there is a wall between your phone and your neighbour's phone, its just measuring proximity between them and length of that proximity. If people switched off contact tracing when at home (where they will know anyone they come into close contact with) nobody woukd be getting pinged due to a neighbour testing positive.