'NHS COVID-19' Contact Tracing App With Exposure Notification API Launches in England and Wales

[page3]

The App looks fine, and the timeframe isn’t too bad considering the (understandable) technology change halfway through.

I’d like an Apple Watch version, but clearly this is hardly a priority. Plus no camera to scan QR codes so usage would be limited.

Probably the most useful enhancement for warnings would be the ability to change district automatically to your current location. I believe that’s being worked on.

 

[ArPe]

The uptake of contact tracing in the US is an embarrassment. I'm sorry Americans are faced with such poor national leadership.

it has nothing to do with the leadership of any of the countries that have the apps. If Trump instigated a very hard early lockdown he would have been accused by 50-60% of being a fascist working with China to oppress Americans. If Clinton had won the election and she did the same she would have been accused by 50-60% of being a commie working with China to oppress Americans.

It’s impossible to avoid no matter which party is there because when a society is split and manipulated by party politics then there will always be hysteria and accusations flying left and right.

About app uptake, same thing. The population has been conditioned for years to worry about data collection and spying. Most of them don’t understand how the Covid apps work and don’t have the technical knowledge to learn. So the uptake in any given region, city, state or country depends on how many people are tech literate versus how many people are worried about data collection.

Unavoidable circumstances. Convincing everyone about vaccines is hard enough and anti-vaxxers also cross party lines.

If you live in a free society split by political parties (let’s face it, the duopoly are two mafias) then we can’t have optimisation. And we don’t want authoritarianism either because that is also an inefficient and corrupt system. So we have to be pleased with the best we can get and use positive messaging not politics to convince people to be safe.

 

[Kebabselector]

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.

Interesting to note, many in the rest of the UK look at her response and see her performance as positive. That said with Johnson in charge we would admiringly look at a wet paper bag and think the response was better.

I'll take a look at the app now that Cummings and co aren't able to data mine it for their nefarious purposes.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi all,


The UK NHS Covid-19 app installed really quickly this morning. Happy to use it.


Question:

Are we supposed to leave the app open on the iphone all the time?

Or can we close it, and it works in the background now?


Hope you can advise

Regards
Martin

 

[bransoj]

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.

Not 100% true, a lot of places have books\sheets you can fill in manually as well and they then destroy these after 21 days if there was no need to pass the information on for a positive test. We were out on Friday and both options were available, a QR code to scan (not the NHS one as many places are using their own web based check in systems) and a manual system using pen and paper. We had to use the manual version as the place is a bit out in the sticks and a big stone building so phone signal was non existent inside to load the web page after scanning the QR code. Did work once i connected to their free wifi mind you.

 

[and 1989 others]

Dido Harding was in charge of T+T, it may have launched, but I garauntee there will be a Major flaw found within the next couple of days. That woman is grossly inept at literally everything she does.

 

[bransoj]

Dido Harding was in charge of T+T, it may have launched, but I garauntee there will be a Major flaw found within the next couple of days. That woman is grossly inept at literally everything she does.

Appears to be an issue with Availability Alerts not working on 14.2....reckons they arent available due to Location Services being turned off when they are on.

 

[mac.rumors]

I had a test. My result (negative) came by text and did not have any code. So that makes this a bit pointless.

What would be the point of tracing people in your contact if you tested negative? QR code is only given to positive cases.

 

[Cybbe]

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.

This is of course a lie along with lots of other weird stuff you write, but as you actually claim this is on camera, perhaps you can provide us with a link, to disprove my accusation?

 

[gstevie]

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)

I’m not wrong.

I have been in the locations and seen the signs.

You don’t have to use this specific app but you do need to scan the QR code or visit the website, if you want to sit in.

 

[iGeneo]

I’m not wrong.

I have been in the locations and seen the signs.

You don’t have to use this specific app but you do need to scan the QR code or visit the website, if you want to sit in.

Or in it’s most basic form, fill out a small paper form with your info

 

[firestarter]

Interesting to note, many in the rest of the UK look at her response and see her performance as positive. That said with Johnson in charge we would admiringly look at a wet paper bag and think the response was better.

Well, that would be incorrect. She gets an easy ride in the press and she's great at playing victim/blaming central government.

The reality is that NHS Scotland is hers to direct - and she's done a poor job. Just one statistic would be care home deaths - 47% of Scottish deaths were in care homes, compared with 30% in England.

It’s not true that 58% of Covid-19 deaths in Scotland were in care homes – Full Fact

A widely shared Facebook post wrongly claims that 58% of Scotland’s coronavirus deaths took place in care homes.

fullfact.org

 

[iGeneo]

I think I've found it in the App Store.. It is in the exposure settings that I couldn't find it

Correct, looks like Apple needs to update the listing.

Was thinking about the part where you give it the first 4 of your postcode and it gives you the rating for the area. I was thinking it would be nice if it had a rating for where your phone is at the moment? So if i were to head to brum, it would let you know it could/found not be a danger zone

 

[johngwheeler]

I'm amazed that it's taken so long to roll this out in the UK, and even more amazed that there isn't an equivalent in the USA, which really needs it.

FYI, I work on the team that develops the Australian contact tracing app - it doesn't use the Apple ENF system, but works in a similar fashion of anonymous bluetooth handshakes which are uploaded from the device (non-mandatory) if the user is diagnosed as Covid-19 positive and contacted by a contract tracing official.

 

[ArPe]

This is of course a lie along with lots of other weird stuff you write, but as you actually claim this is on camera, perhaps you can provide us with a link, to disprove my accusation?

And there’s the problem with a society that has been split along party lines. Cults form, dishonest and divisive narratives form, walls go up, blinders cover eyes and hands cover ears, the media strings everyone along for profit. That’s why I’m against all dogmas and can no longer support any party. Because their activists have gone mad and endanger us all.

There’s no requirement for political parties to exist in a democracy, they aren’t mentioned in the constitutions of great nations. The only requirement is that politicians serve the people and they can do so as independent politicians guided by expertise.

Ridding ourselves of political parties would solve so many problems including the massive amount of money wasted on them and the amount of progress that is delayed because of fighting. Most of us are, after all, liberal and conservative at the same time with only minor differences of opinion that can be resolved with debate.

 

[incoherent_1]

The fact that a news story about a piece of technology to help fight a pandemic must go into PRSI says it all, doesn’t it?

 

[ArPe]

I'm amazed that it's taken so long to roll this out in the UK, and even more amazed that there isn't an equivalent in the USA, which really needs it.

In the US it is done on a state by state basis as they have 50 different health authorities. Some states have it, some don’t yet. The UK is no different because there are three apps which rolled out at different times : England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. Each has their own health authority.

 

[GadgetBen]

Hi all,


The UK NHS Covid-19 app installed really quickly this morning. Happy to use it.


Question:

Are we supposed to leave the app open on the iphone all the time?

Or can we close it, and it works in the background now?


Hope you can advise

Regards
Martin

Hi Martin,

Just leave bluetooth on, the app doesn’t need to be open at the front of the screen.

It will only stop working if Bluetooth is off or your phone is off.

 

[GadgetBen]

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)

I think you need a supply of disposable tin foil hats as well as a face mask.

If you don’t want a smartphone, or to contribute this way, then just sit at home and be one of the unhelpful members of society.

 

[PhilMacbook]

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.

I won't ever download it. If my gym demands I use it then I'll quit membership. Enforcing that customers use this app in gyms, pubs, shops, etc. is a good way to wreck what's left of the British economy. I doubt that will happen in practise because anyone without a smartphone or anyone with an older smartphone can't download the app so it's of limited use.

 

[PhilMacbook]

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

The virus isn't going to disappear and I very much doubt an effective vaccine will appear any time soon. Death rates and hospital admissions are now low and treatment is better than it was. The only answer is to live with it and get our economies working normally again.

 

[manu chao]

I think that everyone agrees in the US that Covid-19 is real.

I’m not sure something can be real and a hoax at the same time.

 

[manu chao]

The virus isn't going to disappear and I very much doubt an effective vaccine will appear any time soon. Death rates and hospital admissions are now low and treatment is better than it was. The only answer is to live with it and get our economies working normally again.

You mean like in Madrid where hospitals are getting full again?

 

[and 1989 others]

I'm amazed that it's taken so long to roll this out in the UK....

Pro tip, if anything is Branded 'NHS' it will always be delayed by a significant period of time, cost 20x more than the average and will probably fail within a couple of weeks.

 

[johngwheeler]

You mean like in Madrid where hospitals are getting full again?

The "correct" answer probably lies somewhere in between the two extremes of "do nothing, carry on as normal", and "shut everything down".

We need to adapt to the changed situation by adopting measures that maximize protection whilst minimizing social and economic impact.

This includes taking sensible and achievable precautions to reduce infections, backed by rigorous research and empirical evidence (hygiene, distancing, barriers [yes, masks...shouldn't be political, but sadly are.. ])...

...and logical disease control - testing, isolation and selective quarantine dictated by the measurable metrics.

...and taking a calm, non-hysterical approach to the real threat. It's not Ebola, but it's also not the common cold.

All easier said than done due to human failings. <sigh>