Isolation

I am very surprised that 19% of people surveyed said they had deleted the Serco, so called NHS, Track and Trace app on their phones and that a further 20% intended to do so. Perhaps, it’s like a lot of things with polling companies in that many of us are sometimes economical with the truth when asked such questions. Either way, given that 2.1 million people were ‘pinged’ by the app in July alone then 19% is a serious number.

We won’t be hearing from health secretary Sajid Javid about the true figures because, according to the Guardian newspaper which today reports on the story, they are believed to be “embarrassing”, which suggest that vast swaths of the population are getting rid of it. (The Department of Health admits it has the data but has imposed what is known as a “Section 22” notice to prevent details being made public.)

i was pinged twice in June for two consecutive 10 day periods, even though I never had Covid-19. I estimate that I had something like 10 or 11 tests during that period, including PCR tests and all were negative and I can assure you, my loyal reader, that I behaved very responsibly during that 20 period and interpreted the rules as I saw fit. But then, it didn’t affect me too much because I was by then no longer in work. If I had still been in work, would I have kept the app?

In my previous job, a low paid affair in the charity/care sector, employees had all been told that if they were told to isolate, they would not be paid, even if they were told to isolate because they had come into contact with a Covid-19 sufferer whilst doing their job. I thought this a tad unfair but luckily I was not pinged by the app, but there were some people who were. It must have been a very difficult decision.

I still had the app at the time, albeit with contact tracing switched off. Soon after, I deleted it altogether. I was never entirely happy with a government such as this one, which routinely tramples over our rights and is now clamping down on our basic freedoms, potentially having access to my whereabouts or my activities. As with the supposed 19% who have got rid of the app, I have no intention of downloading it again.

Fair play to those people who are still using the Track and Trace app, something that is not a hardship if they get paid when pinged. For the millions who don’t get paid it’s a very different story. One person I knew – not a former work colleague – told me it was not an easy decision to carry on working when they’d been asked to isolate but they were not prepared to allow their family to go without.

Track and Trace has cost us, the taxpayer, some £37 billion, but none of it was set aside to support those whose employers refused to pay them if they were asked to isolate. Judge all you like, but imagine walking in their shoes. In two tier, divided and broken Britain, the lower orders, as they are regarded by the illiberal elite who run the country, should shut up and do what they’re told.