Friday, March 24, 2023

App Story

 As of 1 June, the Covid App for smart-phones in Germany....will go into sleep-mode.  They aren't really cancelling it......just admitting that it's not being used much.

My humble thoughts on it?  

I never had it on my smart-phone (while admitting I had Covid twice).

The way it was supposed to work?  The App tracked where you were and if you were around someone who'd been diagnosed with Covid....I remember it being something like 1.5 meters....for a period of 60 seconds...then you'd get this 'warning' screen.  It said 'something' to the effect, you might need to go and be tested.

So you had no idea who the person was, or where you encountered them.  It have been at the dental office, subway, or Grandma's house.  

My wife (German in nature) did download it, and on three occasions....it alerted her.  I'll just say on the first occasion.....she got hyped up and we burned through two of the cheapo tests.....later confirming that she never had Covid.  The other two warnings?  They came and went, with less stress.....with no Covid passing to her.

The two times that she did have Covid?  These were at the office....where her phone was in her purse for the work-day.  

I won't say it was a success or failure....it had good intentions, and maybe with the technology angle.....it was of some use.

I kinda expected some PhD folks to rig up tests and validate the program after two years of use.  So far, no one has said much.  

What'll happen while in 'sleep' status?  Well...I hate to suggest it...but I suspect Covid version 2.0 will arrive in three to five years, and we repeat everything again.  So they will wake up the App, and just hope that things run smoother this time around.  

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