HSE Contact Tracing App launched

O

odyssey06

Registered User
Messages
4,200
It can be found by searching COVID Tracker Ireland on the app stores.

It will record if a user is in close contact with another user by exchanging anonymous codes that are held on the users’ phones.
People who test positive for the coronavirus will be able to choose if they want to anonymously alert other app users who they have been in close contact with.
The app will also allow the user to anonymously record information about how they feel every day.
The information stored on the app will not be transferred to a centralised server.

www.thejournal.ie

The HSE's Covid-19 tracing app went live this evening - here's what it looks like

The information stored on the app will not be transferred to a centralised server.
www.thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie
 
How it works
The app is part of our contact tracing operation. It uses Bluetooth and anonymous IDs to log:
  • any phone you are in close contact with that also has the app
  • the distance between your phone and another app users' phone
  • the length of time your phone is near another app users' phone
Every 2 hours the app downloads a list of anonymous IDs. These have been shared with the HSE by other people using the app who have tested positive for coronavirus.
If you have been closer than 2 metres for more than 15 minutes with any of these phones you'll get an alert that you are a close contact.
The app does this work in the background. This means you can use your phone as normal.

Bluetooth
You'll be asked to give the app permission to use Bluetooth on your phone. Bluetooth needs to remain on for contact tracing to work.
The app uses Bluetooth low energy (LE) to estimate the distance and time between app users. It has been designed to make the best use of this technology.
It will be able to accurately tell if you have spent 15 minutes or longer near someone who tested positive for the virus. Most of the time it will also give an accurate estimate of the distance between you and this other app user. But it's not perfect. No method of contact tracing is 100% perfect.
That’s why we use two methods of contact tracing - our contact tracing team and the COVID Tracker app. This will improve contact tracing, help slow the spread of the virus, and protect you and others.
 
So I don't need to do anything and just carry on as normal.

However, if I go for dinner in a pub tonight and someone at the table or at the next table tests positive, I will get an alert that I have been in close contact with someone.

I would like to see what a message looks like.

You were within 2m of someone who has tested positive for 2 hours. Come in for a test. ?

or

You were in Doheny's on Thursday night and someone else in the pub has since tested positive. Come in for a test.?

Brendan
 
Or if I test positive for Covid , it will alert anyone with whom I have been in contact whether I know them or not.

For example, if I take a 20 minute taxi journey, the taxi driver would be notified that a passenger tested positive.
 
The "check in" feature is ridiculous and I really don't know why it was included.

You can opt in to give the HSE your phone number. This will obviously identify you, so if you're concerned about privacy, don't do this.

If you choose to share metrics then the only information that will be stripped out is your IP address, which is not great.

The App requires location to be enabled in order to use the Bluetooth feature. This is a requirement on Android as per the API that Apple/Google created, which the App is using. The App itself will have no access to your location. This is a condition of usage of the API.

If you use the app without giving your phone number and without sending metrics then you will be effectively anonymous.

Whether or not the App actually works for contact tracing is a whole different question.
 
Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer said that, as of 5pm this evening, the app had around 545,000 downloads.
 
Doesnt seem to be the Covid app but rather a core component of Android phones ie Google Play Services?
Thats been on my phone since forever.
 
I haven't heard much about this since its launch?

Has it contributed anything to the fight against Covid?

Have some people got messages to say that they ate dinner last night in a restaurant 3 feet away from someone who has tested positive?

I presume it's a good sign that I have not heard from them?

Brendan
 
It seems to be of little use so far. The people who download the app maybe aren't the types that are at parties etc to catch covid.
They had said at one of the evening briefings a few weeks ago that X number of people had gotten alert through it. But it was only a double digit figure.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Have some people got messages to say that they ate dinner last night in a restaurant 3 feet away from someone who has tested positive?
Click to expand...

The messages are deliberately not that specific. From the source code:
The app has detected that you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Click to expand...

I know someone who got an alert through the app recently. HSE contact tracers rang them about 36 hours later and provided a little more information about the location of the contact, but not much - they don't want to identify the infected party (I'm not even sure the HSE can tell, the app is designed to retain only enough information to trace those who were near someone that subsequently tests positive.).

In that time the person had already paid for a test privately and received the all clear (I wasn't even aware private tests were an option, they arranged it through their GP!).

As they are not symptomatic, the advice is still to self isolate for 14 days from the negative test (although there's possibly a case for only waiting 14 days from the contact).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top