Monday 5 October 2020

Only a Vague Outline?

It's a bit difficult to think of any additional ways in which the UK's 'world beating' Test and Trace system could be thrown into further disrepute. The admission, from a Health minister, that a 'glitch', had resulted in almost 16,000 positive Covid-19 results not being added to the English database, however, takes the biscuit (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/05/england-covid-cases-error-unknown-how-many-contacts-not-traced-says-minister). People already often have had to travel too far to take tests (which will often increase contacts). In some cases, results (positive or negative) fail to materialise in a timely fashion (if at all). Tracing contacts (already seemingly a rather feeble activity, as carried out in the UK) requires prompt action if it is going to be, in any way, effective! Delaying a response loses much more than simply a day. The contacts involving people are like chain-reactions, increasing in complexity with the time since the initial encounters. People become more vague about who they have met and the chances of actually 'stamping out' transmissions becomes less and less likely.

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