Published on the 30/04/2020 | Written by Jonathan Cotton
Ardern statements show misunderstanding of proximity tracing…
Details are few and hard facts are scant, but the New Zealand Government has finally announced it will release a Covid-19 tracing app – of some description – in a fortnight’s time.
It’s been a long time coming, but those hoping for a magic bullet to New Zealand’s Covid-19 epidemic had best lower their expectations: It’s expected that the first generation app will have only basic functionality, providing pre-registration with the Ministry of Health, ensuring contact tracers have up-to-date information if needed.
That is in line with the Ministry of Health’s contact tracing strategy which prioritises manual processes over digital solutions and discounts the benefits that proximity tracing might deliver.
“My view is we cannot rely on this and we can’t place all our eggs in one basket.”
It also indicates that the app will be used as a tool to collect personal details, something that privacy advocates have strongly advised against.
“We’re still working on [the app], we want it to supplement what we’re already doing,” says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“The first phases of what you’ll see in New Zealand will be the foundations, rather than straight away the Bluetooth application.
“I think one thing that globally we are seeing acknowledgement of is that [these apps are] not a replacement for human and one-on-one contact tracing, between someone who works in our public health units and someone that has Covid-19. That is because it requires a large proportion of your population to be using the app.
With the level of political support that can be read into Ardern’s comments, the prospect of low uptake in a New Zealand rollout will be self-fulfilling.
“And even if it has data between two people who have been in contact with one another, it picks up people at such a distance that you still want to verify [that significant contact with an infected person has occurred].
“Some of the technology that’s being talked about at the moment bypasses public health authorities and means you could potentially have people being told they need to self-isolate who may not have been in quite close enough proximity and only human questioning will be able to determine that.”
iStart has been unable to find any NZ reference to CT technology that proposes to by-pass public health authorities. Most discourse has focussed on it as an augmentation of manual contact tracing procedures.
But Ardern is not saying that Bluetooth functionality isn’t on the cards – it is.
“Soon,” says Arden.
“But don’t expect the first iteration to include things like Bluetooth applications, because there are other pieces of information that we think would be useful to support our [manual] contact tracing in New Zealand.
“Then [the Government] will look to add functions.”
Currently being discussed is QR code functionality that will allow users to ‘log’ places they visit, such as businesses locations, which would be a significant advance on the daily pen & paper registries we saw briefly in Level 2.
In practise, a QR check-in would create a potentially significant number of contacts that need manual tracing, with no ability to prioritise that effort based on confirmed proximity interactions.
New Zealand has around 220 staff for manual contact tracing with a capacity to make as many as 10,000 calls a day if required – a system described as ‘gold standard’ system by Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Those capabilities have been subject to increasing scrutiny in recent weeks. Infectious diseases expert Dr Ayesha Verrall, who audited contact tracing services in early April, identified Bluetooth proximity and QR codes as important capabilities to improve what was then a contact tracing system that fell far short of its need.
Verrall also recommended the use of quarantining apps for those in isolation, which has seemingly been ignored among the few announcements to date.
That’s not good enough, says National’s Health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse.
“Why don’t we have a contact-tracing app in this country yet when Australia now has one and many Asian countries have been using them for some time?” asks Woodhouse. “Surely this should have been a priority before moving to level 3.
“Kiwis have been doing the hard work over the last five weeks to break the chain of transmission and save lives. The Government needs to fulfil their side of the deal.”
Arden says the Government is doing that already, and a conservative tech solution is the right course of action to supplement the processes already in place.
“Our big focus has been on getting our in-person contact tracing right because that is what we will all be relying on,” Arden said on Monday. “Places like Singapore, the uptake [of their Covid-19 tracing app] has been under 20 percent,” she said.
“My view is we cannot rely on this and we can’t place all our eggs in one basket.”
Ardern made no mention of upcoming improvements to Bluetooth protocols from smartphone software manufacturers which will fix issues with, in particular, iOS apps needing to be always on to work. This shortcoming is a major reason why Singaporean uptake was low. The app drained the battery.
With that barrier removed the next to address will be the lack of political support. That may prove a bigger hurdle.
Footnote:
iStart is advocating that any contact tracing app must:
- augment manual methods
- run in the background
- sense the proximity of other devices
- maintain the privacy of the user
- be endorsed and promoted across all Covid-19 authorities at a level matching the lockdown
These ‘musts’ are alongside a vaccine in creating a contact tracing capability that will allow borders to reopen, all businesses to return to work and normal social interaction to resume.
