Here's why dropping contact tracing requirements was a mistake

Saturday, 27 June 2020

Covid-19 testing times and contact tracing in Auckland have failed to meet the 'gold standard' set by the Ministry of Health.

ANALYSIS: When was the last time you scanned a QR code, one of those business-identifying digital barcodes, with the Government's NZ COVID Tracer app? Or any contact tracing app?

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has encouraged businesses to continue displaying QR code posters, but at Covid-19 alert level 1, contact tracing requirements have been dropped.

That was a mistake.

While case numbers continue to rise overseas, New Zealand is hosting sports games, weddings and concerts. Our Covid-free downtime is an opportunity to build and test a world-class contact tracing system. So when the virus returns, or the next pandemic arrives, we're ready.

* Coronavirus: Here's my experience using the new Covid-19 tracker app

* Coronavirus: Concerns too many tracing apps could do more harm than good, as NZ moves to level 2

Part of that involves boosting public health systems behind the scenes. A rapid review of public health units around the country found their main limitations relate to 'information management and data collection'. But one simple, preventative step we can all take is to register our details with the NZ COVID Tracer app and continue recording our whereabouts.

According to Rippl, the contact tracing app endorsed by Wellington and Dunedin city councils, my last check-in was at a café on June 2. I've been out and about since then but haven't bothered to scan a QR code, even when one was available. I'm part of the problem, but I know I'm not alone.

As at Friday, NZ COVID Tracer has recorded more than 580,000 registrations and more than 1.2 million poster scans. The number of posters created by businesses is just over 75,000. Meaning the average user has scanned just two QR code posters since the app was launched, on the evening of May 19.

Contact tracing – the identification and isolation of people who have been exposed to the virus in an attempt to limit its spread – is a 'key preventative measure' for Covid-19, said Dr Ayesha Verrall, in her review of the health sector's approach.

It allows the Ministry of Health to 'vaccinate until a vaccine becomes available', according to its contact tracing action plan, made public on Friday.

'Now's a good time to stress test these systems as much as we can,' Dr Andrew Chen, an expert in person tracking technology at Auckland University, told me.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield shows media an example of a scan for the NZ Covid Tracer app.

But others, such as Dr Marcin Betkier, a law lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, worry we've missed the boat. If the Government had released its app shortly after lockdown, the public, motivated by fear, would have complied and got into the habit of using it, he said.

'I think it's too late now.'

The ministry's action plan suggests its app was scheduled to be released ahead of the country's May 14 transition from level 3 to level 2. But it wasn't made available until May 19. The day prior, the Government was still refusing to answer questions about its timeline.

In the meantime, private sector tools flooded the market, leading to confusion and fragmentation. Shoppers found themselves downloading multiple apps in addition to filling in sign-in sheets, risking their privacy – and their patience.

When NZ COVID Tracer was finally revealed, given its similarities to Rippl and other QR code apps, there was – to put it mildly – frustration from the private technology sector. Software developers at home during lockdown had been willing and ready to help, but had been shut out of the ministry's process.

Since then, the tone has shifted slightly, as the ministry explores ways of integrating its app with existing ones.

Meanwhile, Rippl is eyeing international markets. Antony Dixon, client success director at Paperkite, the software company behind Rippl, said the app's 'privacy-first' approach is appealing in Europe, which has strict data protection rules.

On Thursday, it was awarded the Privacy Commissioner's Privacy Trust Mark – intended to give consumers confidence products or services respect and protect personal information.

Had the NZ COVID Tracer team thought to apply? In a statement, the ministry said 'pursuing the Privacy Trust Mark is not a priority for the ministry at this time'.

There were rumours the ministry was looking at adding a bluetooth feature in June, which would allow users to automatically log each other as contacts if they were close enough for long enough. (Overseas, Bluetooth apps such as Australia's CovidSafe have experienced many teething issues owing to the technology's complexity.) But we're nearly in July, and there's been little recent mention of the app at all.

Still, some use of the app is better than none, said Professor Michael Plank, of the University of Canterbury's School of Mathematics and Statistics.

Even if the Government has missed its opportunity to deploy a killer contact tracing app, we can still do our part by keeping track of where we've been and who we've seen.

And perhaps we'll have the right digital solutions in place for the next pandemic.