It’s now looking highly like that the Isle of Wight will be the first area in the UK to have and access to the Coronavirus Contact Tracing App and widespread Covid-19 testing.
What does this mean and how the Contact Tracing App would it work?
News OnTheWight has been seeking out answers for you.
Why is it needed?
NHSX, the organisation charged with setting national policy and developing best practice for National Health Service technology, digital and data, say they have developed the App to help slow down the spread of the virus.
The theory is, if it’s known which people we’ve been close to, and they fall ill with Covid-19, those who have been nearby can be automatically warned and self-isolate. Thus the spread of the virus will be slowed.
The aim is to have as many Islanders download it and actively run it on the phone as possible, with the Telegraph claiming the internal NHS document says at least half of them need to install and use the App for it to be “most effective”.
It’s been developed by NHSX, as they say it is taking too long to wait for Google and Apple to develop theirs.
How would it work?
The Contact Tracing App won’t be available to the general public, The Telegraph reported. Instead leaflets will be distributed across the Isle of Wight pointing Islanders to a link where they can download it from. An IW postcode would need to be entered before the App can be downloaded.
Details of how the proposed App would work were laid out by Matthew Gould, the CEO of NHSX, in a Blog post last Friday.
As well as being able to let users self-report their Covid-like symptoms (like the King’s College London App), it would also monitor the people that you have come close to and how close you have been to them. The App does this wirelessly using the phone’s Bluetooth Low Energy.
Gould claimed,
“This anonymous log of how close you are to others will be stored securely on your phone.”
Details like this are needed to address privacy concerns that have been voiced nationally, about a mobile App, produced by a Government department, that actively monitors and records the people that you meet.
Gould explained how the alert system would work,
“If you become unwell with symptoms of COVID-19, you can choose to allow the app to inform the NHS which, subject to sophisticated risk analysis, will trigger an anonymous alert to those other app users with whom you came into significant contact over the previous few days.”
Contact-tracing of non-App users
In addition, the Telegraph claimed, “the app would then be supplemented by Public Health England contact-tracing teams, who will further investigate whether other people not using the app have come into contact with infected users”.
Advice will then be given by the App such as to request a C19 test, or to self-isolate.
‘Widespread availability’ of swab testing kits
The Telegraph claimed there will be ‘widespread availability’ of swab testing kits for people on the Island registering Covid-19 symptoms in the App.
Updated advice
As the App is updatable, the advice won’t be fixed, but change depending, “on the evolving context and approach”.
“In future releases of the app, people will be able to choose to provide the NHS with extra information about themselves to help us identify hotspots and trends,” Gould said.
Image: Nordwood Themes under CC BY 2.0
