Apple releases first beta of COVID-19 Exposure Notification API for developers

Of course for these apps to be effective, over 80% of the population need to be using them.

Can’t see that happening in the good ol’ USA where people are boycotting even Lockdowns 🤨

hentaiboy said:

Of course for these apps to be effective, over 80% of the population need to be using them.

Can’t see that happening in the good ol’ USA where people are boycotting even Lockdowns ߤ覬t;/div>

IMHO 80% seems too high of a minimum requirement. It would be helpful if Apple and Google, who know all the details about how it works, would publish some theoretical statistics.

Really tragic about Pence visiting covid patients without a mask.  The people in charge of the federal government simply don't get it, that it would be possible to keep the economy open for the most part if people "just" behaved smarter... and consistently so. Look at all of the sacrifice we've made and trillions of $$ spent so far, and how easily now it could be for naught.

O.T.: Trump's cronies in the health insurance business who will surely contribute big to his reelection are racking up the profits while non-emergent procedures are on hold, while hospitals and hospital employees are paying with their livelihoods and lives.

hentaiboy said:

Of course for these apps to be effective, over 80% of the population need to be using them.

Can’t see that happening in the good ol’ USA where people are boycotting even Lockdowns 🤨

The statement about % use not correct. The effectiveness is on an s-curve and you need to be above about 40% for it to really pay off. There's little improvement going over 80% use in the population. The steepest part of the curve and the biggest payoffs are in that 40-80% range, but below or above that, you are on the other side of the "knee" and the delta of impact is much more marginal.

Totally agree that a chunk of Americans seem to not comprehend that sometimes we are all in this together, and that rugged individualism and an AR-15 won't protect you or anyone else from a virus. You can argue if its appropriate for restrictions to be guidelines (that people follow out of free will wanting to protect their fellow citizens) or enforced (because the law tells you to) , but the constitution doesn't protect you from doing things that endanger others like shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre either.

Now maybe someone can talk some sense into the Australia government that is promoting an app originally developed in Singapore ( which is no bastion of democracy) and which uses a centralized tracking system. They say don't worry about privacy as the data is only available to a "health care official" - whatever that means.

And of course in any event  the app is basically useless on an iPhone as it won't be able to function in the background. 

loopless said:

Now maybe someone can talk some sense into the Australia government that is promoting an app originally developed in Singapore ( which is no bastion of democracy) and which uses a centralized tracking system. They say don't worry about privacy as the data is only available to a "health care official" - whatever that means.

And of course in any event  the app is basically useless on an iPhone as it won't be able to function in the background. 

I want to correct a misunderstanding of how the Singaporean and Australian Apps work. Contact Data always stays on the phone until you are diagnosed with Covid 19. You are then prompted to permit the uploading of the data on your device to the central location so that those who have been in contact can also be informed they have been in close contact with person who has contracted Covid 19. There are limitations with the implementation on iOS as you've pointed out, but a huge central database of interaction is NOT one of them.