Will You be using the NHS app?

mercalia · Post by **mercalia** » 5 May 2020, 11:34am

squeaker · Post by **squeaker** » 5 May 2020, 11:42am

Yes: if it runs / fits on on my old-ish Android phone, that is :roll:

tatanab · Post by **tatanab** » 5 May 2020, 11:42am

Unable to. I don't possess a suitable telling-bone.

Postboxer · Post by **Postboxer** » 5 May 2020, 11:46am

The problem with the idea of the app is I assume there may be some correlation between the people who aren't taking lockdown seriously and meeting up with people when they shouldn't, making unnecessary journeys etc and therefore more likely to be catching and transmitting the virus and the people less likely to install the app, therefore even if the target 60% of people get the app, it won't be the most useful 60% if you see what I mean, the people not getting the app may be the same people who are more likely to be transmitting the virus.

We don't yet know how useful the app could be, if it works, I can't seeing it being very useful post lockdown unless people are still really strictly limiting their interactions. There may be far too many people who come into brief contact with positive cases, too many to test if the number of cases rises a lot post lockdown.

simonineaston · Post by **simonineaston** » 5 May 2020, 11:52am

I already report daily using covid sympton tracker, as do nearly 3 million others, apparently, and have been doing so for some weeks. However, the nhs app, as it's known, is a different ball game. As a someone who works with GDPR, as part of my day-job, I'm watching the intraction between the ICO and the gov. with interest...
PS I wouldn't get too excited about the concept of 'post-lockdown' yet - there's a lot of emerging info. that life as we knew it may be a long long way away. See here for one article on possible scenarios. It all revolves around a handful of simple factors - vaccine, time to develop / manufacture (if possible); human immunity (none seen so far...); continued presence of virus (earlier coronavirus outbreaks just slowed of their own accord - not enough info. yet to indictate this one will...); discovery of treatment, as a back-stop (EDIT: no reliable reports yet). Consider these carefully and you'll see that going back to normal will be a very risky business indeed.

Paulatic · Post by **Paulatic** » 5 May 2020, 12:40pm

I know I probably should if it helps.
I won’t because I have no trust whatsoever in this ukgov.
We’ve seen what CA are capable of I could probably only think of half the mischief Cummings can use this info for.

mercalia · Post by **mercalia** » 5 May 2020, 12:43pm

I cant as I have a Windows phone and you bet they wont put a copy of the app in the windows store ( that is still up). I wouldnt any way as I dont keep my phone on all the time, I have it mainly for emergancy uses.

sjs · Post by **sjs** » 5 May 2020, 12:51pm

Paulatic wrote:I know I probably should if it helps.
I won’t because I have no trust whatsoever in this ukgov.
We’ve seen what CA are capable of I could probably only think of half the mischief Cummings can use this info for.

+1. When the Google/Apple proposed app seems preferable to the government/NHS version you know you REALLY don't trust the government.

simonineaston · Post by **simonineaston** » 5 May 2020, 1:05pm

When the Google/Apple proposed app seems preferable to the government/NHS version you know you REALLY don't trust the government.

...I nearly laughed! :roll:

RH20 · Post by **RH20** » 5 May 2020, 1:22pm

Call me a cynic but have the developers of the NHS app considered the pranksters out there? Now for the what if scenario. What if someone downloads the app and then thinks it would be a wheeze to go out and about and then to report they have coronavirus symptoms for no other purpose than to cause messages to be sent to others who they may have come into close proximity with, informing them to isolate. Could this be possible? I admit I do not know the technicalities of the system, could anyone answer, is this a possibility?

simonineaston · Post by **simonineaston** » 5 May 2020, 1:24pm

Anyone interested in an excellent scientific summary of the likely way forward (ie by looking at what has happend in the past...) should read this nice little paper here. This is an academic paper, whereas the article I linked to earlier is simply an item in an online journal, albiet one that specialises in medical statistics.

mercalia · Post by **mercalia** » 5 May 2020, 1:29pm

RH20 wrote:Call me a cynic but have the developers of the NHS app considered the pranksters out there? Now for the what if scenario. What if someone downloads the app and then thinks it would be a wheeze to go out and about and then to report they have coronavirus symptoms for no other purpose than to cause messages to be sent to others who they may have come into close proximity with, informing them to isolate. Could this be possible? I admit I do not know the technicalities of the system, could anyone answer, is this a possibility?

dont give people ideas :wink:

pwa · Post by **pwa** » 5 May 2020, 1:40pm

I have already bought my first smartphone in anticipation of this, so yes, I will be using it. And anyone wishing to join in the general effort to control the virus will do so. This is the wrong time to develop US-style conspiracy theory anti-government paranoia about these things. Get a bloody grip!

Tangled Metal · Post by **Tangled Metal** » 5 May 2020, 1:41pm

If the more dangerous for infection types don't get it that's perhaps not as much a big deal. If they pass COVID onto someone with it the app will still act as designed surely? It's like herd immunity in a way, not everyone needs immunity to stop transmission. Not everyone needs to have the app and thus directly report symptoms because the person they infect will. Might affect performance but it'll still work. Whether that is effective enough I don't know.

Also, with or without the app people are and will ignore instructions they want to ignore. I see it a lot and it's been getting worse this last week or so after they started talking about the plans for ending the lockdown.

Tangled Metal · Post by **Tangled Metal** » 5 May 2020, 1:49pm

The NHS app was chosen because the Google and apple version didn't have sufficient privacy controls I understand from what I've heard about the options. There's a key design decision made by those two tech giants that could give the conspiracy buffs more to stress about than the NHS app. Of course I suspect it's more about the lack of trust in the Tory party than the NHS app itself.

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