Our 11 favourite reactions to the government moving the Covid app’s goalposts to reduce pings
If you cast your mind back a couple of weeks, you may remember seeing headlines like this –
Or this –
It won’t, therefore, come as a surprise to those of you who follow the to-ing and fro-ing of this government to learn that *fanfare* the app is going to be adjusted so that it alerts fewer people.
NHS Covid App for England and Wales tweaked so fewer contacts will be advised to self-isolate following close contact with a positive casehttps://t.co/4GG0hbPmQx
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 2, 2021
This is what people thought of the move.
1.
The smoke alarm is too sensitive, so we took the batteries out
"Covid: NHS app in England and Wales tweaked to notify fewer contacts"https://t.co/K1i1RBANXo
— (@TVRav) August 2, 2021
2.
We are adjusting the Covid App after assurances by the virus that it will only be infectious within two days of a positive test. https://t.co/jEf4aG2v7X
— Parody Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson_MP) August 2, 2021
3.
I've tweaked my carbon monoxide detector so it doesn't beep as much. https://t.co/7x7QfsVXq8
— Graham (@GrahamOfTheDead) August 2, 2021
4.
Government hails 'hugely successful' drop in crime figures after reclassifying all violent offences as 'Horseplay' https://t.co/KLHGHnnTEa
— Drivelcast (@drivelcast) August 2, 2021
5.
NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales tweaked to be rendered pointlesshttps://t.co/gkpQQRrhdX
— PritchardMedia (@PritchardMedia) August 2, 2021
6.
If you cant fix the problem fix the figures..
BBC News – Covid: NHS app in England and Wales tweaked to notify fewer contactshttps://t.co/iiiI2y58k3
— martyn notman (@NFGmart) August 2, 2021
7.
"Tool to stop the spread of a deadly virus changed to allow the spread of a deadly virus – Fixed your headline for you https://t.co/eNKk00i6En
— Shaun (@SJL652) August 2, 2021
8.
meanwhile everyone in Scotland whose had the app since it was launched are shaking their phones like ‘is this thing even on’ pic.twitter.com/V3Ca53ZhrG
— Sorcha Ní Nia (@Luiseach) August 2, 2021
9.
Today in "Maybe if we don't look at it, the pandemic will go away." https://t.co/6BvzgpAp3m
— Dr Craig Dalȝell (@thecommongreen) August 2, 2021
10.
Thanks. I hate it. https://t.co/v09OR20H8S
— Marguerite Kenner (@LegalValkyrie) August 2, 2021
11.
What they've done to the Covid app makes sense when you remember the right's answer to every problem is 'you need to be less sensitive'
— Ian Ford (@ij_ford) August 2, 2021
Perhaps this piece of information has slipped the minds of *checks notes* the people in charge of trying to prevent further deaths from the highly contagious Covid variant they allowed into the country.
The 'pingdemic' is a symptom of the *pandemic* – so many notifications only because there is so much Covid transmitting.
Uncalibrated political changes (noting that there is no change to the exposure threshold – just an arbitrary change in the number of days) comes with *risk*. https://t.co/bJ9Neny6r5
— Dr Duncan Robertson (@Dr_D_Robertson) August 2, 2021
But, hey – Latin for poor kids.
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Source BBC News Image John Cameron and Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash