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Original poster

Pinged by app while on holiday what to do

153 replies

YellowSunshineSky · 26/07/2021 12:23

I'm with DH and kids. We're currently staying with DHs mum (arrived yesterday). Due to go and stay in a cottage near my mum tomorrow so we can visit her.

Then due to go on a holiday on way back on the 30th with a DC from another family joining us.

Just had a notification from the app saying I've been in contact with someone who's tested positive and to isolate until the 31st.

I've not been in close contact with anyone, just been in services to the loo yesterday on way up and in a shop this morning. Both times I stayed well away from people.

DH is out with his mum and so I can't yet discuss with him.

What would you do in this situation? My options are:

  • Give up on holiday and go home, go to other bit of holiday on 31st
  • Go to first cottage tomorrow but isolate there (do the rest of my family isolate too or just me as I got pinged?)
  • Ignore the app as I haven't been in close contact with anyone

We have LFT tests with us but they're in the car with DH. All four of us tested negative yesterday morning on those.

OP posts:
Cookerhood · 26/07/2021 12:25

If you have to isolate until 31st, the contact was 10 days before that.

BlueSurfer · 26/07/2021 12:26

Who were you with on Wednesday? That’s when you were exposed.

I’d drive home and isolate.

valnevavaxx · 26/07/2021 12:29

Lots of people on here will tell you to ignore it, but since you asked- I'd go home and isolate.

Agree with PP, your exposure was Wednesday.

Original poster
YellowSunshineSky · 26/07/2021 12:31

Thanks for clarifying exposure date. Is there any chance exposure could have been on Tuesday and not Weds?

How does it work, does the person test positive, then tell the app, then the app works out who the person was near and pings them?

OP posts:
Cosybelles · 26/07/2021 12:32

I'd figure out what I was doing on the day of the potential exposure and then decide.

Original poster
YellowSunshineSky · 26/07/2021 12:34

Do my family have to isolate too or just me? I assume just me, is that right?

So if I were to isolate at home my family could still go out and I'd need to stay well away from them in my room?

If that's the case then maybe we should go to the cottage and I'll isolate there as it'll be no different from me isolating at home.

OP posts:
valnevavaxx · 26/07/2021 12:34

You can find out the exact date of exposure in the app- Settings > Other data. But if you have to isolate until 31st then your exposure is essentially 11 days before that, the date of exposure is day 0.

NoseringGirl · 26/07/2021 12:35

If you go into the settings on the app, there's a bit that you can go into which tells you the date of your contact (I think it might be in other data?) so you can have a look at that and see if you can figure out where the ping has come from.

valnevavaxx · 26/07/2021 12:35

Your family don't need to isolate if they haven't been pinged too, but you should think about what would happen if you do test positive while you're at the cottage- incubation is a few days so if you'd caught it off this person you might test negative today and positive tomorrow.

ComDummings · 26/07/2021 12:36

Delete the app, do LFTs now and again if you feel like it

valnevavaxx · 26/07/2021 12:36

Also if you went to the cottage you would presumably have to go to the next bit on the 30th so you'd be ending isolation early

Cookerhood · 26/07/2021 12:36

No, the app just pings you if your phone has been close enough to them for the required time. Trace & test is different - that it if someone tests positive & tells them that you are a close contact.
Your family don't have to isolate unless you test positive.
It's not the law to isolate if you are pinged by the app, it is if you are contarcted by Trace & Test.

Smokeymirror · 26/07/2021 12:37

I would ignore it, loads of people don’t even have the app and are oblivious if they have been in contact with someone anyway. Chances are you don’t even have it.

PuffItsGone · 26/07/2021 12:37

I’d delete the app and move on with my life

Ohshitiveturnedintomymother · 26/07/2021 12:37

Just you isolate OP as you’re a close contact not a positive case. As a previous poster said, you can check the date of exposure in the settings of the app, and then work out if you were in contact with anyone. I know it works in Bluetooth but I was pinged through my bedroom wall, neighbour tested positive and I know it was them that pinged as I didn’t leave the house other than to drive to a petrol station that day.
The 31st is Saturday, so if you can go home then join your family later then that might be best, it’s only 5 days now rather than 10 so that’s a bonus

Orf1abc · 26/07/2021 12:38

If that's the case then maybe we should go to the cottage and I'll isolate there as it'll be no different from me isolating at home.

Your family does not need to isolate, however knowing they might potentially catch it from you, do you think it's a good idea for them to be out and about in a holiday destination?

It's beyond frustrating, but you need to make a rational assessment of your own risk of having caught it, and in turn your family's risk.

Pantene23 · 26/07/2021 12:40

Delete the app. Work out what you were doing last Wednesday. Decide if it’s actually a close contact.

MRex · 26/07/2021 12:41

It is more likely Tuesday for the exposure; 10 days added to the exposure time. If you click through on the app, you should be able to see the details. I'd distance from MIL, then have us all go home until 31st and do the trip to DM after that.

Spyro1234 · 26/07/2021 12:43

I'd ignore the app. I've deleted mine

Spudina · 26/07/2021 12:43

Being pinged by the app is discretionary I believe, whereas being rang by track and trace is mandatory. If I had any faith in the pings I would isolate. However my DB was on a bike ride with 6 men. One of them later had COVID. My DB was the only other person to get pinged, despite never riding with the cyclist.
I would work out your possible exposure and decide. If you were indoors for longer periods the risk is higher. If you go to the cottage, stay in and don’t go visiting people.

bumbleymummy · 26/07/2021 12:45

Delete the app and go to the cottage. Have a lovely holiday :)

PercyPigandMe · 26/07/2021 12:45

I'd delete the app and ignore it

Bobholll · 26/07/2021 12:48

Work out your exposure OP. I got pinged when my next-door neighbour tested positive. It was a Monday & I hadn’t left my house all day as I WFH! Safe to say I ignored it!

selflove · 26/07/2021 12:49

DELETE THE APP

It's not legally mandatory or enforceable for you to isolate - it just means your phone was within 2m of someone else's phone for 1min or more on Wednesday. If you know your risks are low and you have been double vaxxed etc, I wouldn't isolate if I didn't have symptoms.

I'd probably do daily LFTs for peace of mind though, and I'd make sure I limited all 2m contact to my own family, and if we'd planned on going to a restaurant I'd change it to an outdoor table, or eat at the cottage instead until 31st etc.

QueenofKattegat · 26/07/2021 12:50

@PuffItsGone

I’d delete the app and move on with my life
This is exactly what I would do too.
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