Pinged!
17/07/21 18:16 Filed in: covid-19
Oh Happy Day. Yesterday me and a friend were both pinged by the NHS App to say were near someone a few days ago who has subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. We were both told to self isolate for six days from yesterday (which means I can’t leave the house/garden until midnight on Wednesday. I’m not sure if that will change on Monday with the new guidance. That is anyone’s guess.
With it being six days and not ten it indicates that the contact was sometime last weekend. Which to be fair is the last time we were out together so that makes sense. That means it was either somewhere in Bishop’s Castle, where we were camping, or in the Head of Steam on the Sunday watching the footy final. Ho hum.
Pinged to self-isolate for 6 days
The ridiculous thing though is that it is a legal requirement to self isolate (which I’m fine with: it’s a health issue for all). And I now know multiple people who’ve either had a similar notification or actually caught the virus this week. BUT from Monday no one will need to use the NHS App to sign in and scan as they visit hospitality venues. If they then subsequently test positive there can be no backwards tracing of their contacts - other than their personal recollection, home and family and work etc.
The App notification suggests I’ve been near to someone with a positive test and that has got to be a useful thing to know. I mean what if I was planning on visiting a vulnerable person this weekend? To be given the information is very desirable. I’ve now tested myself at home using one of the kits and reported the Negative result to the NHS website (not sure why you can’t use the App to report it?). The notification page states that I should continue to: wash my hands, socially distance and wear a face covering. All of which I’ve been doing. But from Monday apparently I won’t need to. And because we won’t be scanning in to places no one will be able to back trace any close contacts we’ve all had any more. People won’t be getting told they’ve been near anyone who’s just been shown to have Covid, ‘cos no-one will know. This is straight out of the Donald Trump method of reducing instances of the virus by not testing for it. Led by the science, my arse.
Negative Test
So in a similar situation next week I wouldn’t know about my close contact and then I could happily pootle off to see a vulnerable person none the wiser. The mind boggles.
The changes just as so many people seem to be testing positive again is a ridiculous act. Since the notification and testing myself the Health Secretary himself has a tested positive (also after having two jabs). The App should be happily pinging his colleagues as you areas this. If he’d just got it a few days later they’d not be getting notified and would have happily been spreading it around their colleagues. Hope it makes them think (I suspect it won’t). Apparently in the last week half a million people have been pinged. FFS. Half a million!
Good luck to everyone trying to stay safe. We our having the tools of knowledge removed from us. And we are being left with common sense (which too many people have little of) and luck. Be good and stay safe, people. Understand the science (but good luck finding the details).
With it being six days and not ten it indicates that the contact was sometime last weekend. Which to be fair is the last time we were out together so that makes sense. That means it was either somewhere in Bishop’s Castle, where we were camping, or in the Head of Steam on the Sunday watching the footy final. Ho hum.
Pinged to self-isolate for 6 days
The ridiculous thing though is that it is a legal requirement to self isolate (which I’m fine with: it’s a health issue for all). And I now know multiple people who’ve either had a similar notification or actually caught the virus this week. BUT from Monday no one will need to use the NHS App to sign in and scan as they visit hospitality venues. If they then subsequently test positive there can be no backwards tracing of their contacts - other than their personal recollection, home and family and work etc.
The App notification suggests I’ve been near to someone with a positive test and that has got to be a useful thing to know. I mean what if I was planning on visiting a vulnerable person this weekend? To be given the information is very desirable. I’ve now tested myself at home using one of the kits and reported the Negative result to the NHS website (not sure why you can’t use the App to report it?). The notification page states that I should continue to: wash my hands, socially distance and wear a face covering. All of which I’ve been doing. But from Monday apparently I won’t need to. And because we won’t be scanning in to places no one will be able to back trace any close contacts we’ve all had any more. People won’t be getting told they’ve been near anyone who’s just been shown to have Covid, ‘cos no-one will know. This is straight out of the Donald Trump method of reducing instances of the virus by not testing for it. Led by the science, my arse.
Negative Test
So in a similar situation next week I wouldn’t know about my close contact and then I could happily pootle off to see a vulnerable person none the wiser. The mind boggles.
The changes just as so many people seem to be testing positive again is a ridiculous act. Since the notification and testing myself the Health Secretary himself has a tested positive (also after having two jabs). The App should be happily pinging his colleagues as you areas this. If he’d just got it a few days later they’d not be getting notified and would have happily been spreading it around their colleagues. Hope it makes them think (I suspect it won’t). Apparently in the last week half a million people have been pinged. FFS. Half a million!
Good luck to everyone trying to stay safe. We our having the tools of knowledge removed from us. And we are being left with common sense (which too many people have little of) and luck. Be good and stay safe, people. Understand the science (but good luck finding the details).
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