The App Story

So two months into the Corona App period.....there's been this one unsettling problem to come out of using it.

The way it works.....you download the App, and it 'measures' closeness to people (who also have the App on their smart-phone)....and if that guy comes up with a positive test, then people who were near them over the past couple of days....will get an 'alert'. 

What the alert means?  It means ONLY that you were within distance of a positive-tested Corona person. 

It basically says....your risk went from 'zero' to 'low'.  For an American, this would beg the question....if zero is zero....what exactly is low (one-percent, thirty-percent, fifty-percent)?  The App guy would just grin and admit low could be .01-percent....meaning you had a better chance of catching a cold off a toilet-seat at the Frankfurt Bahnhof public toilets, or winning forty Euro via the Friday night lotto drawing. 

ARD (public TV, Channel One) did a decent explanation of this minor issue. 

The obvious next step after you get the text message?  Well.....you'd read this on your phone screen....get hyped up and worried, and immediately call your doctor in a panic. 

The developers of the App built a simple system, and were smart enough to say 'low-risk', which means maybe you were next to a person on the bus, or on the train two days ago, and they are positive now. 

Is there some statistical data being collected here?  No one says much, but I would imagine that if you had a thousand 'low-risk' messages go out to 3k consumers.....the next question would be....do the 3k consumers then report to a test facility, and out of that group.....what percentage will have Covid-19?  One-percent?  Ten-percent?  Fifty-percent?  Unknown.

But from this same scenario....of the 3k consumers alerted.....what percentage will NOT go for a test?  Ten-percent?  Thirty-percent?  From German men, it wouldn't surprise me if one-third of the German men over forty years old got the 'low-risk' text message, and did absolutely nothing. 

Lets also admit one thing, which ARD brought up in this discussion....Bluetooth technology has developed to some degree, but its not exactly great at measurement situations (like you sitting in one bus seat, and the other person sitting one meter away.....the signal doesn't work perfect because of the seat placement/material).  Maybe in ten years, Bluetooth will be replaced by a better technology and corrects some of these weaknesses. 

So if you are sitting there and getting the 'low-risk' message....don't freak out.  Gulp down a shot or two of good German liquor, call the doctor and just hint that maybe you need a test. 

Here's the sad part of the story.....because of the fair number of people now with the App, and infections increasing.....you might be getting this 'low-risk' message every other month, and the stress of the test (waiting for the results) just makes matters worse.