The Meeting Place > Hot Topics > Something smelly about this COVID tracking 'saviour'?

Something smelly about this COVID tracking 'saviour'?

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Janelle Ward
2 yrs ago

Is there something the government doesn't want us to know?

A long-awaited report on its COVIDSafe app has been released, but findings about its effectiveness have been redacted.

Remember COVIDSafe? The app that was going to solve contact tracing problems during the early months of the pandemic. The app that cost taxpayers about $10 million to develop and which is still costing about $75,000 per month.

A report has been released following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Canberra Times, but the parts related to its effectiveness have been redacted and only basic information and positive comments remain.

The app identified just 17 close contacts not identified by manual contact tracers since it launched in April 2020. This year, it hasn't identified any close contacts, despite major outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne. And ... it's not being used by NSW Health authorities. 

Do you think that was money well spent? Do you still have the app on your smartphone?

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15 comments
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Incognito
2 yrs ago

Seems someone is getting a lot of money for something that no one is using, very strange indeed.

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Sophie
2 yrs ago

How do you know “no one is using it” ….. how do you know that? Spreading such useless gossip is counter- productive!!

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Viking
2 yrs ago

Incognito, not at all strange, par for the course for this government.  Scams and rorts and looking after the hands that feed them are their core business.

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Sophie
2 yrs ago

 

 

Yes…there was a problem in the beginning…however that has been sorted.

Your information and privacy are strictly protected. The app has a range of privacy and security safeguards built in. It uses secure encryption and does not collect data on your location.

I was out and about yesterday and it seems I was the only one who did not use it…I have now downloaded it.

 

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Greg
2 yrs ago

The reason it's was not successful was because of all the fools who ridiculed it, concerned about privacy rubbish. Just like the vaccines, all the negative gossip on social media gets to people and they get worried......unnecessarily.

Instead we now have check in points in all stores, similar results but much more cumbersome.

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Sophie
2 yrs ago

Absolutely correct Greg!

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OzJames70
2 yrs ago

I think many are confused by the COVID-Tracing apps (e.g. NSW Q-Code) and the COVIDsafe app.  They are quite different.  COVID tracing apps make sense and work.  The COVIDsafe app was unlikely to ever work.  Someone who was going to test positive and go out in the community would simply disable the app!   

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Viking
2 yrs ago

I expect the redactions were simply another Scammo cover up for the fact that yet again something didn't work. It didn't work because it couldn't work, the parameters of 1.5m for a duration of 15 minutes were unrealistic in most situations and have become more so with the Delta virus.

Health advice, technical advice, political advice are only someone's opinion. What we desperately need is a Prime Minister with good judgement and leadership skills.

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Tom Tank
2 yrs ago

The States QR systems are vastly superior in effectiveness as it provides contact tracers an almost immediate record of those who have been in an area of concern provided those people had signed into the QR.

The Federal one just has not cut it and has been a waste of money and resources despite what LNP supporters try to say. 

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Ella
2 yrs ago

Sophie, I suspect you're a government paid propagandist. Haven't seen anyone using that app for a long time as the state qr code apps are the go to now. I used the COVIDSafe app when it came out but it was cumbersome and used up mobile data. As someone pointed out, the parameters are useless with the Delta variant. "I was out and about yesterday and it seems I was the only one not using it." ???????? Soohie, how would you even know whether someone was using it? And in case we didn't bother reading her comment, we would notice the bold print "I have now downloaded it" ????????????Total propaganda!!

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Sophie
2 yrs ago

"Soohie, how would you even know whether someone was using it?"

How would you know they were not using it? You must be a mind reader like Incognito!

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OzJames70
2 yrs ago

Totally agree.  And the app was problematic from the start due to the way it would work.  It was a way to give some 'friends' a chunk of money (ongoing).  If as a business person I bought an app that delivered such abysmal results, I'd shut it down but who know what the penalty clauses are in the agreement.  

In a country where the government hospitals do not use the State Government COVID-safe Q-Codes, what hope is there.  I've had the COVIDsafe app since it came out and had had it properly set up, but it has never worked.  Unlike the Q-Code which I see people using every day, I doubt many even remember the COVIDsafe app, which requires you to re-register every year. 

Unlike the Q-Codes, there is no way people would know who else has has the COVIDsafe app.   The proximity handshaking only works if the device is set up for it, but you'd still only see an anonymous record if there was someone who had reported they were positive and they were near you.  You wouldn't know who they were.  And because if someone had tested positive, they should be in quarantine, there shouldn't be any near contacts. 

But is was designed pre-Delta and has no way of measuring what is in the air you are walking through, but that is where the latest strain of COVID is.  

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Ella
2 yrs ago

Those question marks were laughing til crying emojis Sophie.

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LeonYLC
2 yrs ago

Sophie, please keep your insults to yourself.

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Sophie
2 yrs ago

but....but... Ella started it...calling me a paid govt. propagandist ( I don't take any money!!!)

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PlanB
2 yrs ago

I doubt much of any money that this government has thrown around has been useful

And guess who will end up paying for many more decades

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Leonie
2 yrs ago

 

 

I found the original Covid tracing app disappointing.  I think it was a good idea but was never going to work if people were resistant to using it, which unfortunately they were.   The Qld check-in app is a breeze to use.  The only criticism I would make is that it would have been better with a check-out option as well, like some other States.  Making them mandatory everywhere, not just for hospitality venues was the right move too, imo.

Oh, and Ella, I had trouble on another thread trying to use the link to the emoticons on here.  I just got question marks for the laughing one too.  Here's the 'thinking' one (I am confused, lol).  I wonder how it will come out. ????  Well, that answered that question. LOL

 

 

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PlanB
2 yrs ago

A friend told me there are so many places that are not making people check in with the app at all, people are just walking in and out without checking at all --- why are there not someone to check at these places

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Leonie
2 yrs ago

I've seen that too PlanB.   I think the way it works is that it is mandatory for businesses to display the app but it is largely left up to them to refuse entry to people who won't use it.  Some don't bother, others do have people checking.  I've seen a couple of people turned away, and have also seen a couple of people who didn't have a phone, or forgot it, offered an alternative.

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PlanB
2 yrs ago

Yes, Leonie,  I believe if you don't have a phone you can write your name and address and phone number.

 

I wish they would all make sure that people signed in --as this thing spreads like mad

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Raff
2 yrs ago

I went to a coffee shop that did not put out pen and paper for those of us who don't own a smart phone. How dumb/lazy was that! Then they over-charged for their nibblies. They won't be seeing me again.

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Ella
2 yrs ago

This is a bit frustrating as can't reply directly under a particular comment. Anyway, this is a reply to Sophie's reply to me:  That's exactly what I'm laughing about. First you make a comment asking how the writer of the article would know that no one is using it and calling it useless propaganda and in your next comment you say that you noticed that you were the only one not using it! So who's the mind reader? :D:D

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Ella
2 yrs ago

This is a bit frustrating as can't reply directly under a particular comment. Anyway, this is a reply to Sophie's reply to me:  That's exactly what I'm laughing about. First you make a comment asking how the writer of the article would know that no one is using it and calling it useless propaganda and in your next comment you say that you noticed that you were the only one not using it! So who's the mind reader? :D:D

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Ella
2 yrs ago

This is a bit frustrating as can't reply directly under a particular comment. Anyway, this is a reply to Sophie's reply to me:  That's exactly what I'm laughing about. First you make a comment asking how the writer of the article would know that no one is using it and calling it useless propaganda and in your next comment you say that you noticed that you were the only one not using it! So who's the mind reader? :D:D

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Ella
2 yrs ago

This is a bit frustrating as can't reply directly under a particular comment. Anyway, this is a reply to Sophie's reply to me:  That's exactly what I'm laughing about. First you make a comment asking how the writer of the article would know that no one is using it and calling it useless propaganda and in your next comment you say that you noticed that you were the only one not using it! So who's the mind reader? :D:D

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Ella
2 yrs ago

This is a bit frustrating as can't reply directly under a particular comment. Anyway, this is a reply to Sophie's reply to me:  That's exactly what I'm laughing about. First you make a comment asking how the writer of the article would know that no one is using it and calling it useless propaganda and in your next comment you say that you noticed that you were the only one not using it! So who's the mind reader? :D:D

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