This appeared last week.
‘It’s giving people anxiety’: Sydneysiders confused by vague COVID check-in app alerts
By Ben Grubb and Mary Ward
January 3, 2022 — 8.33am
Notifications from the Service NSW app about confirmed COVID-19 cases attending the same venues as other Sydneysiders are causing widespread confusion, with many people receiving new alerts only to find no new detail inside the app’s check-in history.
Meanwhile, others have said they have received alerts for venues such as nightclubs or pools they only just checked into hours earlier and are in some cases still in attendance, raising questions as to how an alert can be issued so quickly and if people are attending venues while waiting for PCR test results.
It comes as the state government confirmed to the Herald that the app was sending a new push notification alert every time an additional person who attended a venue later tested positive to COVID, but without detailing which venues the additional cases attended.
“Customers using the COVID-Safe check-in will receive an alert in the Service NSW app when a positive COVID-19 case attended a venue within an hour either side of a check-in,” a Service NSW spokesperson said.
The alerts — which have become known as a “pingdemic” in England because of their frequency and due to the pandemic fatigue they’ve caused, prompting people to turn them off — have brought about confusion among Sydneysiders.
“It’s frustrating....and worrying,” one user of the app said.
Another said they were now ignoring case alerts and had ceased checking in.
“It’s giving people anxiety for nothing. QR codes at this point are pointless.”
The push notification itself does not contain any detail beyond alerting Service NSW users to open up the app’s check-in history and scroll through to see which venues they were potentially exposed at. The government’s response explains why some people have complained of seeing nothing new within the app that was different from the last time they received an alert.
The government did not commit to changing the app to address the lack of information, stating only that Service NSW and NSW Health would continue to monitor the evolving situation “and respond to community feedback”.
The state government’s response does not solve the mystery as to why some people have reported receiving alerts while still at venues they only checked into hours earlier.
One Sydneysider reported to the Herald that they had checked into Oxford Street’s Universal nightclub on New Year’s Eve only to receive an alert an hour later about a positive case attending the venue. In another situation, an attendee of George Street’s Ivy nightclub received an alert on Sunday fewer than 12 hours after attending the “Poof Doof” event on Saturday night. Another said he had attended a pool at 3.30pm only to receive a positive case notification at 5.40pm.
This article’s primary author also received a notification for Bourke Street’s The Beresford, in Surry Hills, fewer than 16 hours after attending on a Sunday in December.
The Herald asked whether Service NSW considered positive rapid antigen tests as enough verification for a case alert to be issued, or if COVID-positive people had attended venues while waiting for PCR tests to be returned. A Service NSW spokesperson said the health department “determines the criteria for case alerts and the potential exposure window”.
NSW is keeping in place for the time being check-ins which use QR codes despite some epidemiologists and federal health authorities doubting the usefulness of the process given the high rate of COVID-19 in the community.
More here:
I know, from personal experience, that the frequency of alerts has gone through the roof and that it is very hard to know just what to do when an alert is received.
With the real number of COVID19 cases possibly being over 100,000 per day in NSW one really does need clear guidance as to what to do next – or we will have a lot of “headless chickens” running about all over – or isolating hopefully!
David.
Well the wise woman and men in state and federal parliaments have delivered us from evil restrictions. Not without cost. A lot of opportunity for this virus to be exposed to variants in humans and through that evolve. What will Australia’s variety mean to the world?
ReplyDeleteLet’s just keep masking up and cleaning hands, distancing and looking out for each other.
"Let’s just keep masking up and cleaning hands, distancing and looking out for each other."
ReplyDeleteHow do you do that if you or a relative are in aged care? The staff are grossly overworked and the inmates are getting minimum care and attention. Some are dying all on their own. This may not be headline news - some stupid tennis player and an incompetent government is hogging the front pages - but there are enough media reports about the chaos and totally lack of effort to improve the lot of the aged. It is similar to what's happening with the disabled.
What is going on it little less than torture - of our own elderly citizens.
This government should be utterly ashamed of themselves.
They failed to get and distribute PPE, vaccines and test kits. They are failing with the aged and the disabled. They only had a few jobs to do and they've messed them all up.
But at least we've got My Health Record and COVIDSafe.
AnonymousJanuary 15, 2022 11:36 AM. Was not my intention. I fully agree they way the aged care sector is treated is inexcusable. My intention was to remind everyone we can do our bi and need to, as you state Anon the government seems to find us expendable.
ReplyDelete