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

[TheVampiresWife]

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).

Honestly? I wouldn’t have the app, and I would pretty much isolate for the 10 days beforehand

@HelloMissus me neither. That’s why I wonder how people are still getting pinged. (Not that I have ever had this app - was always one step too far data wise for me)

I’m amazed it’s 1 in 3, that’s much higher than I thought. Which is also worrying for all those people who don’t have the app, as I assume 1 in 3 of them would also develop COVID.

So all those people who are either getting married or having another big social event involving a few vulnerable and elderly friends and family, are you limiting your contact/exposure to COVID in the run up to the event?

@Blessex

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?

The ping to isolate doesn't result from checking in, it results from having contact tracing in the app switched on along with Bluetooth on your phone. It then measures when your phone is is close proximity to other phones and how long for, and if the owner of one of those other phones logs a positive covid result in their app, your app will notify you of it considers you were in close contact (it uses an algorithm to decide this)

Here is the difference between contact tracing and venue check in
faq.covid19.nhs.uk/article/KA-01312/en-us?parentid=CAT-01033&rootid=

The 1 in 3 is not just for the app it includes the contact tracing people where it is much more likely that people will be positive from a definite contact

We got married last October and we pretty much isolated for the 10 days before. We had already postponed once and didn't want to risk a last minute cancellation of the day.

But @User56439876 many people say they refuse to pick up the phone to avoid being contacted, so that is a worry too

@ineedaholidaynow

But *@User56439876* many people say they refuse to pick up the phone to avoid being contacted, so that is a worry too

I was just really clarifying the 1 in 3 was not just the app.

@RichardMarxisinnocent

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.

Yes, it does. It's not doing what it's supposed to do unless it was actually intended to pinng people in those situations and it isn't fit for purpose because very clearly instances like that undermine confidence in the app.

It's all very well saying it should be used differently, but in order for an app like that to be useful and viable, it needs to be very simple. The more a user has to do to make it work in the optimum way, the less fit for purpose it is.

Do other countries’ apps work better than ours?

Do other countries’ apps work better than ours?

After the initial kerfuffle, they're all much the same.

Lots of pings here because cases are so very high

@ineedaholidaynow

So all those people who are either getting married or having another big social event involving a few vulnerable and elderly friends and family, are you limiting your contact/exposure to COVID in the run up to the event?

I'm hoping that in the run up to our wedding it will have changed that you only have to isolate if you have covid, not close contact. Me and DP will be careful to limit chance of us catching COVID, but i will also be ignoring any numbers i don't recognise, i'm not getting contacted by test and trace in the few days before my wedding.

Would you not worry that you might potentially spread COVID to people @Lazypuppy?

All because the rules are changing doesn’t mean it is sensible to change the rules!

[quote Lazypuppy]**@ineedaholidaynow

So all those people who are either getting married or having another big social event involving a few vulnerable and elderly friends and family, are you limiting your contact/exposure to COVID in the run up to the event?

I'm hoping that in the run up to our wedding it will have changed that you only have to isolate if you have covid, not close contact. Me and DP will be careful to limit chance of us catching COVID, but i will also be ignoring any numbers i don't recognise, i'm not getting contacted by test and trace in the few days before my wedding.[/quote]
Will you be letting your guests know you declined the call from track and trace?
I’m glad we’ve decided to forgo indoor events and large outdoor ones given the number who would ignore calls, fail to isolate or ignore symptoms. It’s not hard to see why our cases are so high.

I’ll be basically self isolating the entire family before our wedding in August 😂 deleted the app in May. I’m having a small wedding, just family & asking everyone to LF test in the morning. Everyone is fine with that. I only have one vulnerable relative attending & that’s my mum. Sadly I have no very elderly relatives left, the oldest will be 65.

I’m enjoying seeing people sneering at weddings going ahead.. one of life’s happiest events & still being complete knobs. You forgo your indoor events & sit shaking in your boots at home. The rest of us be getting on with it.

You forgo your indoor events & sit shaking in your boots at home. The rest of us be getting on with it.
Given the huge number of people who have had family members and friends die, this is a pretty shitty way to characterise their concerns.

I think if your main concern is you might get pinged through the wall of your house or similar, why don’t you just turn it off at home??? Then you still get the warning when you ARE out and about but don’t risk it when safely home.

@5zeds

You forgo your indoor events & sit shaking in your boots at home. The rest of us be getting on with it. Given the huge number of people who have had family members and friends die, this is a pretty shitty way to characterise their concerns.

People lose relatives every day. I lost my dad at only 73 from a particularly vicious illness, though it was pneumonia that finished him off, which in turn developed from flu - another infectious virus. We didn't expect everyone else's world to stop. Covid deaths are not worse and sadder than other deaths.

The only problem with doing LFT on the morning of the wedding is that they could screw your wedding as much as a ping from the app.

I probably wouldn't LFT the key "players", unless your Mum is CEV to the point of the vaccine likely to be ineffective.

It’s not a competition @HesterShaw1 if you can’t see why it’s inappropriate I guess you either listen to others or carry on as you are. It isn’t necessary to paint people as shaking in their boots or indeed to suggest that they aren’t “getting on with it”.

Myself, my partner and DSD have been pretty much isolating for the last week, and will do the same this week before our wedding on Friday. Our parents are double vaccinated, but doing the same, as are our siblings. We're asking everyone else to LFT the morning of, but we aren't (unless we have any symptoms)

Again though, no CEV people and almost all of our guests have had atleast one vaccine. It's a calculated risk, but one that everyone seems happy with

I think it's the illogicality of the government approach that's confusing people. Tens of thousands can crowd a football stadium, sing their hearts out, abandon social distancing (especially the drunk numpties who stormed the Euro stadium) but weddings and funerals have been very limited. Everyone at a recent wedding just before Freedom Day did a LFT. 4 had to bow out from a close group when one read positive. Everyone had at least one jab, the older members two.

@5zeds

It’s not a competition *@HesterShaw1* if you can’t see why it’s inappropriate I guess you either listen to others or carry on as you are. It isn’t necessary to paint people as shaking in their boots or indeed to suggest that they aren’t “getting on with it”.

Well quite. Exactly what I said in fact. Which is why I have no truck with people who act like covid deaths are worse then others just because they are covid. And why we should get on with living because anything can get you at any time.