Experts advising the government say that current restrictions should remain in place until a smartphone application capable of tracking people and “tracing contact” is ready. But such an app isn’t likely to be ready by June 1, which means that people must continue to live like prisoners, without their rights, because of a virus that’s about as dangerous as the flu and mostly killing very old people.
Just like they’re now portraying this tracking app as a requirement for working and doing normal life stuff, they’ll eventually do the same with vaccinations.
They are determined to mark you and humiliate you.
Fears are mounting over the government’s new coronavirus contact tracing system today as No10 admitted a crucial coronavirus smartphone app will not be ready – and rebranded the operation to remove a reference to ‘tracking’ the outbreak.
Downing Street will only say that the software, to detect which users have been in contact with people who test positive for the disease, is due to be ready in the ‘coming weeks’.
But ministers insist the contact tracing regime can still be in place by the hard deadline set by Boris Johnson, with plans to bring back schools, shops and businesses hanging in the balance as the economy goes into meltdown.
The PM has hailed a 25,000-strong army of trackers recruited to identify the contacts of infected victims and prevent outbreaks. Similar schemes have controlled outbreaks in countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, allowing them to ease lockdown.
However, Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation – which represents organisations across the healthcare sector – warned the system was being put together ‘very late in the day’ and the draconian lockdown cannot be loosened without a ‘clear implementation plan’.
Although Mr Johnson’s determination to launch the tracking system by June 1 was ‘very much welcome’, he added: ‘I think it is being done very late in the day and we really do need to get on with this.’
The new app has been tested on the Isle of Wight but its rollout has been delayed for weeks because of security flaws and failure to work on all types of smartphone.
Meanwhile, the government has mysteriously abandoned the word ‘track’ from the name of the scheme, which had been ‘test, track and trace’ – or TTT. No10 sources suggested it was just because test and trace was a ‘simpler’ message.
It’s not that it is a simpler message, it is that it’s a less threatening message. Telling people that the app “traces contact” sounds much more acceptable than telling them the truth, which is that the app tracks their every move in order to know who they come into contact with.
In order to alert people if they came into contact with someone with coronavirus, the app needs to log all contacts in case someone ends up having the virus.
It’s actually all completely nonsensical in that it couldn’t ever possibly accomplish its stated goal and is obviously just a tool to get people acclimated to the idea of being constantly tracked by the state, with the state intervening in your life in response to information gleaned from the tracking whenever they feel like it. Think about what is implied by this.
Health officials began contact tracing for every positive diagnosis of coronavirus following the first confirmed cases in January. But widespread contact tracing was controversially abandoned in mid-March as the number of cases soared in the UK.
The app, which uses bluetooth to track what phone users have been in close proximity, has been lauded as a critical piece of the puzzle to implementing a South Korea-style system.
But Mr Brokenshire conceded that it will not be ready by June 1, telling Sky News it ‘will be introduced in the coming weeks in parallel’ with the system employing track and trace staff.
He added: ‘Obviously, the priority being to get these track and tracers trained, in place, that is what the Prime Minister is very confident about.
‘We’re confident the system will be there, able to track and trace around 10,000 people on 1 June.’
The Government’s scientific advisers insist the system must be in place before any more restrictions are lifted. If the scheme is up and running in time some schools and shops could reopen as early as June 1.
Rules limiting social contact could also be relaxed at that point, with a decision due at the end of next week.
The media and the government are openly talking as if it was common knowledge that the lockdown is meant to stay in place until they have their tracking apps, vaccinations, and whatever else is going to be added to this weird list.
But that was never the deal. They told us that the lockdown was meant to “flatten the curve” and keep hospitals from being overwhelmed in order to allow them to treat all cases. It was never about preventing people from ever catching the virus. Hospitals were not overwhelmed and doctors and nurses spend their days dancing because there are barely any patients to attend to.
The government should start explaining exactly when and why they went from “the lockdown is meant to flatten the curve” to “the lockdown is meant to keep people from ever catching the virus until we have other tools for preventing people from ever catching the virus.”
They are playing with people’s lives.