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Good to see this finally launch. It may not be "world beating" but hopefully it will effectively aid the existing Test and Trace service.

Would be nice to see interoperability with Scotland and NI apps ASAP.
 
so people not carrying their phone, can't eat out or enter a business ?

You cannot sit in to eat or drink, no. You must have a smartphone and be able to scan the QR code or use the URL to “Track and Trace” here in the U.K. to do that. Coffee shops have signs up saying that you cannot sit in, it’s takeaway only if you cannot or will not.
 
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Your phone is sending a unique code. If someone tests positive and they mark themselves so on their app then it then sends all the codes it’s been in contact with and these codes are then notified so you get a notification to say you may have been exposed and should isolate

So say someone gets the notification but ignores it and doesn’t self isolate. How do they know who is self isolating and who is not?
 
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As far as I am aware, with your test result you will be sent a code which you enter into the app. The app then uses all the random ids it has exchanged to privately and anonymously notify other users.
I had a test. My result (negative) came by text and did not have any code. So that makes this a bit pointless.
 
COVID-19 will be over by the time we get one here in the States
California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have jointly developed Apple and Google Exposure Notification API app. Beta test is starting in few days and public release is expected in November or December. While late, it's better late than never. And I suspect COVID-19 won't be gone by then.
 
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Yeah, well, all the smart people, who believe in science, know it's real. And have known, since the beginning of the year.

To some extent, COVID-19 is the first virus that selects for belief in superstition.
While I think COVID deniers are morons, I empathize with their anger.

Millions of people have lost their job due to COVID, and many businesses are gone forever. Furthermore, being forced to isolate, travel challenges, and not allow participate in various activities can drive many sane people mad.

However, I am more mad that (1) we didn't do a better job containing the virus, (2) so many people (over 200,000 in the US, nearly 1 million in the world) died as a result, and (3) politicians politicizing the pandemics rather than educating and protecting the public.
 
So say someone gets the notification but ignores it and doesn’t self isolate. How do they know who is self isolating and who is not?
They don't know. The whole debate around this app has been about the need to balance people's right to their privacy (do we want the government tracking our every move?), but also the need to have a way of figuring out who has come into contact with someone who has tested positive.

Six months ago, when 95% of the population were on board with the concept of "we all need to be careful and protect each other" this app would have been really useful. If the large majority of the population use it, and get tested or self-isolate upon being notified that they've been in contact with someone who is known to have tested positive, then a real impact could have been had, depressing the number of cases down.

However, as ever, the UK government is extremely late to the party, and has burned up so much goodwill already by a raft of nonsensical rules (e.g. the virus doesn't transmit before 10.00pm, or the hard limit that you can only meet a maximum of six family members, yet also requiring employees to work in offices with a far higher number of colleagues, similarly with students in busy schools, while also encouraging people to visit busy restaurants by offering 50% off prices). Furthermore, these rules have been routinely ignored by our leaders in government.

This has left people asking themselves why should they limit their own activities, and why should they consider the needs of others, when the rules make no sense, and when the very people setting the rules are seen openly breaking them, without any penalties.

As a consequence, it is now likely that far fewer people will use the app, making it less effective; and you are correct that more people will now, on finding out that they have been in contact with a COVID-positive person, pretend that they haven't received the notification and carry on regardless. And due to the baked-in privacy (which I essentially support), there is no way for the government to know and therefore check that the right people are isolating.

It's an absolute dog's breakfast of a mess - and I cannot help but feel that this is intentional. The Prime Minister's adviser is on camera clearly stating his view that "so what" if subsets of our population die off - it will be beneficial to the state, because it will no longer have to support them with things like healthcare in the future.
 
Supposedly New York will come out with their own app soon, it’s being pilot tested now. I work in a retail environment so this would be very helpful.
 
You cannot sit in to eat or drink, no. You must have a smartphone and be able to scan the QR code or use the URL to “Track and Trace” here in the U.K. to do that. Coffee shops have signs up saying that you cannot sit in, it’s takeaway only if you cannot or will not.
Wrong.
There are lots of people who:-
- Don't have a smartphone capabable of running the app
- Don't have a smartphone full stop
- Forget the dammed thing.

Businesses that have been using a sign-in register can carry on using that.

I'm not going to install the thing or if I did, it would be useless as BT has never been enabled on my device. There again, I'm more than likely going back into shielding due to my immune system being next to useless due to HCL. If I don't mix with people then I can't get it right? (hand washing and other prevention measures have been ongoing since March)
 
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California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have jointly developed Apple and Google Exposure Notification API app. Beta test is starting in few days and public release is expected in November or December. While late, it's better late than never. And I suspect COVID-19 won't be gone by then.
The COVID-19 infection rate is actually going up in many parts of the world. Don’t think for one minute that it will be gone by December. If people don’t take this seriously and continue to ignore their government guidelines, then it will be around for a long long time yet
 
However, I am more mad that (1) we didn't do a better job containing the virus, (2) so many people (over 200,000 in the US, nearly 1 million in the world) died as a result, and (3) politicians politicizing the pandemics rather than educating and protecting the public.

Our First Minister in Scotland has done nothing but that since the pandemic hit. I find it utterly repugnant. Worryingly, so many fail to acknowledge / even recognise her insidious behaviour.
 
The COVID-19 infection rate is actually going up in many parts of the world. Don’t think for one minute that it will be gone by December. If people don’t take this seriously and continue to ignore their government guidelines, then it will be around for a long long time yet

Canada just extended its support programs through Summer 2021 because they know that this virus is here for the duration. Even when vaccinations become available, it will take several months to get the population vaccinated. We need to have a long-term battle plan, not a two-week shutdown that crybabies whine about.
 
It’s about time! We were promised this in June and the other countries of the UK have had one for months,...

Yes, I think there is a human/health system element to this. Here in Canada, we have the official national "COVID Alert" app released, but it's still only working in 1 province, so not working in the other 12 provinces and territories. And it's almost October. The app tells me there's no reporting in my province yet, and I think that's because it needs to tie into the local health system, which isn't yet updated to support the app. Catch-22.
 
The government have been a bit sly due to saying to company’s that to stay legal they should use the app / QR codes to get people’s addresses which most are doing so it’s going to be forcing anyone who wants to eat out etc to get the app

They know your address anyway tool. Council Tax, Voting Register, PAYE or self assessment. The list goes on.
 
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The government have been a bit sly due to saying to company’s that to stay legal they should use the app / QR codes to get people’s addresses which most are doing so it’s going to be forcing anyone who wants to eat out etc to get the app

I used mine to check into the gym this morning. No input of any details required. The whole reason the NHS didn't want to use the Google/Apple API in the first place was so they could collect user data on a centralised database.
 
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