{"id":108183,"date":"2021-01-12T16:16:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T16:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=108183"},"modified":"2021-01-12T16:16:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T16:16:51","slug":"covid-19-coronavirus-tracer-app-use-not-high-enough-if-there-were-to-be-an-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/covid-19-coronavirus-tracer-app-use-not-high-enough-if-there-were-to-be-an-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid 19 coronavirus: Tracer app use not high enough if there were to be an outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealanders’ lacklustre Covid-19 tracer app use means contact tracers would not be able to do their job properly if an outbreak occurred today.<\/p>\n

The number of daily scans – QR code and manual entries<\/span> – has fallen since its peak of 2.5 million in September to around 500,000 in recent weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ministry of Health data shows there were only 407,301 scans in the 24 hours from 1pm on Saturday, January 9 – the most recent day available.<\/p>\n

University of Auckland research fellow with Koi T\u016b: The Centre for Informed Futures Dr Andrew Chen says the numbers are not sufficient enough.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Keeping a record of where you have been is a preventable action and so waiting for there to be a community outbreak and then starting to scan is too late,” he said.<\/p>\n

University of Canterbury mathematician and Te Punaha Matatini modeller Professor Michael Plank says Saturday’s number is a long fall from the highs of 2020.<\/p>\n

“It’s clear there has been a big drop off in the number of people scanning,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This means our contact tracers will have less information to go on when we get our next community case and makes a lockdown more likely.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Simple message: scan like your family’s lives depend on it because they just might.”<\/p>\n

The app was launched in May 2020 and was barely used until after health officials announced there were four new community cases on August 11.<\/p>\n

In a 24-hour period, there was a 471% increase in scans from just over 48,124 to a whopping 275,141.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promptly put Auckland back into alert level 3 and the rest of the country to level 2.<\/p>\n

The number of scans steadily increased each week, with the most in a single day coming on September 4 when there were more than 2.5 million recorded.<\/p>\n

It was the same day Alan Te Hiko and former Cook Islands Prime Minister Joe Williams died after both men caught the virus.<\/p>\n

The number of scans each day declined from there onwards until a slight bump in mid-November for the Auckland CBD cases.<\/p>\n

And to start 2021, the number of scans has remained steady around 500,000 per day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Chen says it’s a passable number of daily scans but far from ideal.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a bad number, at this stage, especially considering back in July the numbers were only 25,000 \u2026 500,000 is okay, not great, but okay,” he said.<\/p>\n

Chen says fear factor is a massive driver for the skyrocketing number of scans after the August cluster and November community cases.<\/p>\n

“There are carrot approaches and there are stick approaches,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A lot of discussion has been around carrots of gamification or making it look nicer, that sort of thing. Carrots can help you build longer-term behaviour change.<\/p>\n

“Stick approaches are basically fear. Fear is a really powerful motivator but it doesn’t last. That’s why we get spikes whenever there is a scare.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

People are quick to return to normal after the risk of an outbreak reduces, which can be seen in the dramatic drop off in scans each day.<\/p>\n

Chen did not mince his words when asked if they were enough if there was a community outbreak:<\/p>\n

“The short answer is no,” he said.<\/p>\n

The sentiment is supported by Plank, who says tracers need to know people’s movements and track down their contacts for the previous one to two weeks.<\/p>\n

“This will help us avoid a lockdown when we detect the next community case,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If contact tracers can’t get hold of this information immediately we may need a lockdown to ensure the outbreak can’t spread.”<\/p>\n

The number of daily scans over the Christmas and New Year’s period were down on previous weeks, with between 170,000 and 460,000 recorded each day.<\/p>\n

The numbers did not surprise Chen overall, who put the reduced number down to people being less mobile than at other times of the year.<\/p>\n

And while the scanning numbers dwarfed recent highs, Chen is encouraged by the number of people opting to turn on the Bluetooth setting which increases each day.<\/p>\n

However,he and Plank say it’s not a replacement for scanning but rather it is a complementary action – another layer of protection.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Bluetooth setting will only register contacts if both people have it enabled but it does not automatically record where you have been.<\/p>\n

Plank says getting back to the historic levels of scanning is “clearly achievable”.<\/p>\n

“More ambitiously, if we had 75 per cent of the adult population regularly scanning that would translate to about 6 million scans per day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re clearly a long way off that but aiming for this would give us a better level of protection.”<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealanders’ lacklustre Covid-19 tracer app use<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23056],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCovid 19 coronavirus: Tracer app use not high enough if there were to be an outbreak - Pre Coin News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/covid-19-coronavirus-tracer-app-use-not-high-enough-if-there-were-to-be-an-outbreak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covid 19 coronavirus: Tracer app use not high enough if there were to be an outbreak - Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Zealanders’ lacklustre Covid-19 tracer app use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/covid-19-coronavirus-tracer-app-use-not-high-enough-if-there-were-to-be-an-outbreak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-12T16:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cnewsfotoVRSTHPJ6JSRROXZM7A3BCFGAWA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/covid-19-coronavirus-tracer-app-use-not-high-enough-if-there-were-to-be-an-outbreak\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/covid-19-coronavirus-tracer-app-use-not-high-enough-if-there-were-to-be-an-outbreak\/\",\"name\":\"Covid 19 coronavirus: Tracer app use not high enough if there were to be an outbreak - 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