{"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