Covid 19 coronavirus: 2.1 million Covid Tracer app downloads, but who logs in?

By Nita Blake-Persen of RNZ

You’ve gotten back to basics with the Government’s latest Covid-19 tracking tool – a paper brochure that can be used by anyone without a smartphone.

More than two million people have downloaded the NZ Covid Tracer app, but the number of daily scans indicates that it is far from tracking every movement.

The government hopes that the old-fashioned pencil and paper can provide more support to map any future outbreaks.

“If you don’t have a smartphone, I am very happy to tell you that we are now producing a little brochure that you can use,” Health Minister Chris Hipkins said at the Covid-19 press conference today.

“These will be distributed starting next week. They allow you to keep a manual paper diary; we are aware that some of our senior citizens in particular prefer to keep a paper record of where they have been.”

The brochures will be distributed in packs of 10 and the Government is asking community organizations to order copies for distribution.

“Particularly senior groups, those in other parts of the community where technology may not be as appropriate or easily adopted.”

Hipkins urged New Zealanders to keep track of his movements. “If you are not using the app, we ask that you track your movements in some other way.”

The application has been downloaded more than two million times. Whether New Zealanders are using it is another question.

Auckland locksmith Kelvin Green is doing his best to enforce the rules but is still getting resistance from customers.

“We have QR codes on the back doors, the front door and the counter here and we remind them before we notify them if they have registered or not, and we also have a paper registration.

“We probably have about 40 percent of the people who sign up when we actually tell them.”

Some people forget, and one customer was very reluctant to provide contact details, but ultimately customers have complied, Green said.

“If they want service, they have to register.”

At least 2.1 million scans were recorded on Tuesday, averaging just over one scan per account per day. Thousands of people still do not register their movements.

On the streets of Auckland, people varied in the way they tracked their movements, many used the app, others found the technology too difficult, and others simply preferred pencil and paper.

Auckland buses remain a gap in the city’s Covid-19 tracking efforts. QR codes are not mandatory on buses until Friday, even though the buses are tied to the latter group.

“It is the first time I take public transport this morning and I completely forgot about [the QR code]”I hadn’t noticed it when I went upstairs,” one traveler told Checkpoint.

Professor Shaun Hendy, an expert in Covid-19 data modeling, said the tracking app could not be completely trusted alone.

“Digital applications in general have been oversold. They are part of the puzzle, but they are not a silver bullet,” he said.

Wednesday’s brochure promotion comes after tech entrepreneurs criticized the government’s slow response in implementing a CovidCard.

The proposed card uses Bluetooth technology to help with more efficient bulk contact tracing. Professor Hendy told Checkpoint that some of the claims were exaggerated.

“What makes them really useful is when they can be integrated into the manual contact tracing system.

“One of the weaknesses of CovidCard is that once it was implemented it could not be updated. Therefore, it would be more difficult for it to work in an integrated way with the health system,” he said.

About 50 percent of New Zealanders 18 and older have downloaded the app. That compares with 37 percent in Ireland and 24 percent in Australia.

However, Hendy said New Zealand still has a way to go.

“It’s not at the level we’d like to see it at yet, but it’s useful and I’d love to see it sustained now that we’re back at Level 2.5 and Level 2. Usage and new logs have dropped during our 102 days without new cases.

“It’s good to see him recover, but we have to make it higher.”

-RNZ