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Original poster

People who haven't got the App

156 replies

wordsareveryunnecessary · 22/07/2021 14:01

Lots of people who use the app being "pinged". In our city it's affecting public transport as well as deliveries (as it is in many parts of U.K) .
Just think, people who don't have the app - maybe a high proportion of the elderly population and those who won't use the app. They will never be "pinged " or be told t isolate.

OP posts:
FenceSplinters · 22/07/2021 16:35

My ancient phone couldn’t handle the app, so I don’t have it.

I’ve also blocked the numbers for the phone calls after getting several calls a day when I was ill with Covid last year. Be expected to answer questions for twenty minutes, three or four times a day, when I couldn’t barely speak, was not easy.

Picklypickles · 22/07/2021 16:35

Neither of us has ever had the app and no intentions of getting it. We live on the moors in an area that's never had very high numbers of cases and we are very ant-social anyway, not gonna catch covid from my own house am I, but don't want to get "pinged" and told to self-isolate because a neighbour in our terrace has been pinged.

Cattitudes · 22/07/2021 16:39

@Rabblesthecat

never had the app, never will......also don't give proper details when asked for them
Aren't you concerned that you might have given someone else's number who might be pinged instead?
EngravedLabels · 22/07/2021 16:40

@UmteenthUser

I guess it is handy if you get paid and want a couple of weeks off work to get some jobs done in the house and garden.
Exactly! I would install and go for lots of walks outside pubs if that was the case! I’m surprised the press hasn’t picked up on that aspect.
EngravedLabels · 22/07/2021 16:41

I would imagine that the majority of people who would get paid to self isolate still have the tracking turned on on the app.

MrsNewtS · 22/07/2021 16:44

I don’t have it. I work in an industry where we wear full ppe at all times so was told to turn it off at work. I can’t remember to turn it off and back on again so deleted it.
I also haven’t been to a restaurant or cafe etc since covid started, do my shopping online and don’t go anywhere except school run and work. And I know who I’ve been in contact with.
I self isolated when I was contacted by track and trace because I had an actual close contact

fresiaboquet · 22/07/2021 16:44

this whole "pingedemic" thing is really puzling me. People constantly quoting the many many people all isolating due to being "pinged" by the app, the effect this is having on business, food supplies etc, people clamouring for the government to bring forward the ending of rules on isolation for jabbed people.....
Do people not realise that you do NOT legally have to isolate if only alerted by the app? And in fact, you dont actually have even have the app? Just delete it.
Ive never had the app, never will.
Ive had to self isolate twice when my daughter has had covid (obviously would follow that rule) other than that have continued going into work throughout and going about normal life as much as was possible at any given time. I test with LFT twice weekly, have followed pretty much all rules and most guidance, wear a mask etc and have been double vaccintaed.

PiccalilliChilli · 22/07/2021 16:48

It drained my battery every day, plus I didn't like the idea of it tracking my movements. I turn the location off at all times.

Work policy is, if you get pinged, take an LFT test. If positive, take PCR and isolate for ten days.

My FiL has a simple smartphone phone for old people and the app isn't compatible. He gets tested in hospital before he goes for his routine tests every 2 weeks.

I think a testing based approach might be better.

bigbluebus · 22/07/2021 16:49

I turned off contact tracing a few weeks ago - although I've never been pinged in the time I had it switched on as I'm careful about where I go. I don't go near to anyone I don't know well anyway so they would tell me if they tested positive. I met up with an old friend the other week who said she'd never downloaded the app and she's a GP.

PhilCornwall1 · 22/07/2021 16:50

I guess it is handy if you get paid and want a couple of weeks off work to get some jobs done in the house and garden.

It is. I was talking to a couple of people on Tuesday who are desperate to get an app notification to get 10 days off on full pay and have said they won't isolate.

No chance I was ever downloading the thing. The way it's designed to work is flawed.

DSGBT · 22/07/2021 16:52

I deleted it once it told me to isolate for 5 days so came up really late. When I looked at the date it was a day I didn’t leave the house as we were isolating for a hospital visit for my DD. So it was completely inaccurate.

zen1 · 22/07/2021 16:53

I never had the app (didn’t trust the privacy) and neither have most of my extended family. I’m a bit sceptical of all apps to be honest.

Sillysop92 · 22/07/2021 17:01

Like others, my phone is too old, when I upgrade I won’t bother downloading the App. I will fill in a paper contact with my time of arrival and estimated departure., just as I do now. That will suffice!

Marmitemarinaded · 22/07/2021 17:02

@wordsareveryunnecessary

Lots of people who use the app being "pinged". In our city it's affecting public transport as well as deliveries (as it is in many parts of U.K) . Just think, people who don't have the app - maybe a high proportion of the elderly population and those who won't use the app. They will never be "pinged " or be told t isolate.
Precisely why I don’t have it! Don’t have it Won’t be pingedGrin
Rabblesthecat · 22/07/2021 17:03

@ivykaty44

I've had covid and I'm double vaxxed. Its about as protected as I'm ever going to be so I'll take my chances

CoffeeWithCheese · 22/07/2021 17:05

To be honest - I didn't quite trust the Govt not to leave the app data in a trolley in Tesco.

Violinist64 · 22/07/2021 17:07

@HelloMissus

I’ve deleted it. If I am in close contact with someone who tests positive, they will tell T&T who will advise me to isolate. And I will.

But I’m not isolating because I walked past someone in a mask in Sainsburies.

This is my take on it exactly. I, too, have deleted the app. The final straw for me was the realisation that the app does not record the time when you were in the cafe, for example, so the person who tested positive could have been there at any time from 9.00 to 18.00 and not necessarily at the same time as you. I am double jabbed but if I were in contact with someone who tested positive then of course I would isolate unless advised otherwise.
Thislittlefinger123 · 22/07/2021 17:09

We've never had the app and have no plans to. I know a few friends who work for different state organisations that have been explicitly told not to have the app, so why would I want it Confused

As for saying it offers protection to the user. Er, nope. If I've been exposed to the virus already being pinged won't make me less likely to develop covid. And yes, if working correctly (which it doesn't) it would possibly stop asymptomatic people potentially passing it on, but it's all hypothetical and toj may variables.

londonmummy1966 · 22/07/2021 17:09

My phone is too old to support the app. It does everything else that I need so I see no reason to replace it - really dumb to create a public service app that doesn't work on older phones IMO.

flowerycurtain · 22/07/2021 17:14

Never had the app here. If school or track and trace tell me I will isolate. Don't go to restaurants, LFT before meeting friends in the garden. Double jabbed and wear a mask when I very rarely go shopping.

I'm a farmer. Isolating now would be pretty disastrous here right now.

I'd also like to see the stats of those who get full pay keeping the app versus low paid/self employed. Anecdotally friends in jobs where they can take time off and are paid have it. Don't know many farmers/self employed that do!!

I'd have to pay a literal fortune for a contract combine driver right now!

4kids2dogsand · 22/07/2021 17:34

Never had the app. I don't understand why anyone would still have it, unless they were actively trying to avoid work.

Aching1536 · 22/07/2021 17:35

I downloaded the app when it first came out. Deleted less than a week later. Sick of needing an app for everything, including work, don't have enough space on my phone for my own stuff!

DuckingGoose · 22/07/2021 17:42

I deleted the app months ago. I don't want to be pinged. I could be off work on full pay if I got pinged but don't have the time or inclination for that. Frankly I want to live my life.

I use common sense.

Girlmama3 · 22/07/2021 17:45

Where do people go to get pinged?

I deleted the app months ago but I only go to our local shop and occasionally an outside animal park with dd3.

I’m pregnant so avoiding most places at the moment as cases are rife here now.

Is it restaurants and pubs mainly?

Ifitquacks · 22/07/2021 17:47

@Girlmama3

Where do people go to get pinged?

I deleted the app months ago but I only go to our local shop and occasionally an outside animal park with dd3.

I’m pregnant so avoiding most places at the moment as cases are rife here now.

Is it restaurants and pubs mainly?

I would imagine public transport is a fairly common culprit for getting pinged.