NHS Covid 19 Track & Trace app now available

The risk to the SW has come from the huge influx of people excaping from the high risk cities

lemongrove

growstuff

Apparently, there are no low risk areas in England:

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/no-area-england-low-risk-nhs-covid19-app-a4556346.html

Surprising....I thought Devon and Cornwall would fall into that category.

If you read the criteria used to decide, there are only two risk categories in England.

The government want everybody to be more alert. Most areas are "medium risk".

The "high risk" areas are areas where there are already extra restrictions or where the areas are on a "watch" list and likely to have restrictions imposed very soon, if the situation continues.

My guess is that the government doesn't want anybody to think they can ignore the advice by becoming complacent.

lemongrove

Barmeyoldbat

Well I reckon it will be a good percentage of the population that can't down the app. Just doing a quick think around the people I know at least half won't be able to do it as the phone is to old. Still if it works for some it will help.

I don’t think so.....maybe within the older generation there will be some, but most people have an up to date smart phone these days.

My area is medium risk apparently.

On a regional news programme last night, the presenter admitted his phone was not ‘smart’ enough to download the app. I was a bit surprised, thought he would have had a newer one, but made me aware of how many phones are too old.

craftyone

The risk to the SW has come from the huge influx of people excaping from the high risk cities

That's nothing to do with the risk category. The point is that even if there were only one case in the whole of the South West, people would still need to take precautions.

Calendargirl

lemongrove

Barmeyoldbat

Well I reckon it will be a good percentage of the population that can't down the app. Just doing a quick think around the people I know at least half won't be able to do it as the phone is to old. Still if it works for some it will help.

I don’t think so.....maybe within the older generation there will be some, but most people have an up to date smart phone these days.

My area is medium risk apparently.

On a regional news programme last night, the presenter admitted his phone was not ‘smart’ enough to download the app. I was a bit surprised, thought he would have had a newer one, but made me aware of how many phones are too old.

My phone is too old. It does what I want it to do, so I'm not buying a new one.

There's more about risk categories here:

metro.co.uk/2020/09/24/what-nhs-covid-19-app-postcode-risk-levels-mean-coronavirus-uk-13321713/

There is a rising number of cases everywhere in England, so nowhere can be "low risk".

Thankyou Alegrias and Woodmouse49. Uncertain times indeed. Probably the only certainty is hand washing and social distancing and masks where appropriate helps.
Slightly off topic but apparently people are chilled by a video released in Scotland which shows the virus being transmitted by a granddaughter to her granddad when she makes him a cup of tea.
I'm not sure why some people are chilled or indeed even surprised. Over the years there have been endless publicity about how viruses and bacteria spread. It was covered in basic food technology when my daughters were at school. Hey Ho. I'm off to make rock cakes,washing my hands first of course?

growstuff

craftyone

The risk to the SW has come from the huge influx of people excaping from the high risk cities

That's nothing to do with the risk category. The point is that even if there were only one case in the whole of the South West, people would still need to take precautions.

There are cases now in the SW which originated from people from outside the area. The people in rural and seaside areas were doing pretty well before the mass influx. The influx of escapees are the cause of the risk category being higher than low

Rather depressing news on the radio this morning. Only 11% of people in the UK who know they have had contact vid a Covid-19 positive person are self-isolating. Only 18% of people who develop the disease are self-isolating. It seems people want to follow guidelines but then choose not to do so. What does this mean for track and trace?

That may very well be the case, but it's irrelevant. The point the government is trying to make is that people in the South West should be as careful as people in all other parts of the country, except those where special restrictions are already in place.

For the individual, it doesn't actually matter what percentage of people have infections. You only have to be in close contact with one person for a few minutes to stand a very high chance of being infected yourself. You just don't know where that person has been. It could be that he/she has been in contact with somebody who didn't quarantine after coming back from holiday and has been in contact with the person you've just hugged.

It's now known that the majority of transmission takes place indoors, especially in poorly ventilated areas and between close acquaintances/family. Indoor family gatherings have been responsible for more transmission per head than the mass gatherings on beaches.

I would imagine most people already know if they live in an area with special restrictions. I guess labelling a few more areas "high risk" might make people a bit less complacent.

Greta

Rather depressing news on the radio this morning. Only 11% of people in the UK who know they have had contact vid a Covid-19 positive person are self-isolating. Only 18% of people who develop the disease are self-isolating. It seems people want to follow guidelines but then choose not to do so. What does this mean for track and trace?

I've read that before, which makes me wonder how effective this app will be.

Can anyone answer my previous question what is the point of this app please ?
If it’s to let people know that they have been in contact with a sufferer .......but, self isolation is purely optional what is the point ?
If it’s to tell you what’s happing in U.K. you can hear that on the news everyday and I believe most of UK is in the medium category
I d just like to know what it’s going to do to stop this virus

BlueBelle, this is my opinion. I think the point of the app is to let you know that you have been near to a person that has had a positive test. You are then advised to isolate. I suppose one could then decide not to, but what would be the point of having the app in the first place? People who are not going to act on the instruction to self isolate shouldn't bother downloading the app - but then the effectiveness of the whole system is of course reduced. Its a way of breaking chains of contamination when you can't trace other people by name.

I think all the other bits about the risk level of your area, the checking in and so on are "nice-to-haves", but the real point is the proximity tracing.

I believe that many people have good intentions. They want to self-isolate but then find reasons why it's not an option for them. Also, we heard it from our Prime Minister: ”It's very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines in a way that is necessary”.
I am not convinced the track & trace app is going to have a big impact.

My nephew works for an IT company that worked on this app. He told me that an “area” is 8,000 people. So if you are in an urban area, your geographic area is smaller than someone who lives in a rural area.

Apparently everywhere is England has been deemed medium risk or above. Hard to know what the point of the app is. I want to know how many individuals have tested positive in my town in the last couple of days, not last week. How else can I ascertain my level of risk visiting a supermarket or chemist?

glammagran“
How else can I ascertain my level of risk visiting a supermarket or chemist?“

Surely assume high and behave accordingly would be the safest course of action?

BlueBelle

“.....,,, and I believe most of UK is in the medium category.”

No. We are high, as is most of the North West.

I've downloaded it too but have a feeling that plenty of people won't.

Algerias that is the believed explanation but here’s the real life situation
Bread winner gets information that he/she has been in contact with Corona so he/she Quarantines for ten days ok all good he/ she are fine and whiz back to work two days later they get another ping how many weeks is his / her employer going to keep that employee or worse a self employed person trying to keep their business afloat how many weeks can they take off and
Just because someone comes near you it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will catch Corona virus
Remember all the stuff around not touching someone with AIDS don’t drink out of their cup and don’t shake hands with them!!!

Although the numbers are going up the deaths and hospital numbers aren’t high so can it be a good thing that more people have had it, it has never been proved you can get it more than once apart from one dubious case in HK which was never proven

Why did you ask the question twice BlueBelle if you already thought you knew the answer?

BlueBelle is right about how many people will react to the app. That's exactly what will happen. People will get advised multiple times they've been near someone who's infected, but they just can't afford to take time off work or they live in a household where self-isolation is possible.

If this app is going to work, there need to be other measures in place.

People need to be tested and get the result back with very short time, so they know whether they really need to self-isolate and whether they are infected and their own contacts need to self-isolate.

They need to know that there will be no financial loss if they can't work.

In some situations, they might need alternative accommodation, if they can't self-isolate at home.

That would cost money and need efficiency, but I bet it would cost a lot less than the contracts which have already been handed out and there are efficient people out there.

No, Bluebelle I can never agree that the herd immunity idea you're suggesting is a good one or even feasible. BTW This isn't like AIDS at all!

pollyperkins

I tried using mine at a coffee shop this morning as was disappointed because as well as the QR code I had to put the number of the venue, plus my name & phone number. What’s the point? I could just have told that to the girl on the door. I thought it would be automatic.
Have I missed something?

Have you a QP code scanner on your phone?

Now all we need are the sniffer dogs they at Amsterdam (? was it?) airport. They apparently can detect the virus even before symptoms appear in a few seconds.

Furret

Now all we need are the sniffer dogs they at Amsterdam (? was it?) airport. They apparently can detect the virus even before symptoms appear in a few seconds.

Helsinki I believe. They can detect the virus @ 5 days before the person develops symptoms and are almost 100% accurate. I’ve read that they are training dogs in the UK and America but haven’t heard any more about it. This could be a real game changer so why aren’t dogs being trained everywhere?