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THE HSE HAS said its contact tracing app will be wound down within 90 days if it’s deemed to not be effective.
Ahead of the Covid Tracker App’s launch, the HSE has released documents detailing how the app will work.
The Data Protection Impact Assessment for the app states that the app will be wound down within 90 days if it “is assessed as ineffective as part of its efficacy monitoring process, or if, on taking advice from NPHET, the Covid-19 crisis is declared over by Government”.
The app will be voluntary, but a Lero study published this week by Science Foundation Ireland found that 82% of the population said that they would be willing to install an app for contact tracing.
It will record if a user is in close contact with another user by exchanging anonymous codes that are held on the users’ phones.
People who test positive for the coronavirus will be able to choose if they want to anonymously alert other app users who they have been in close contact with.
The app will also allow the user to anonymously record information about how they feel every day.
The information stored on the app will not be transferred to a centralised server.
“The symptom tracker has the potential to generate valuable national data relevant to Covid-19. The accurate reporting of the timing of the first onset of symptoms will improve the speed and the accuracy of the tracing process,” the HSE said in a statement.
“In line with data protection law, the processing of data will be limited to this stated purpose. All personal data that is processed is kept to an absolute minimum.
“Users can choose to delete the app at any time and have full control over what information they share through the app.”
72% detection rate
Fran Thompson, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the HSE, said the design of the app has been “informed by a robust development and testing programme”.
The app was developed by the HSE and the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Government Chief Information Officer and An Garda Síochána, together with technical partners from the Irish private sector (Expleo, Nearform, Information Security Assurance Services Ltd (ISAS), and EdgeScan) and scientific partners from Science Foundation Ireland.
“Results from our testing programme have shown that the app was able to accurately detect 72% of close contacts using the Google Apple API, Thompson noted.
Paul Reid, CEO of the HSE, said the app “will be an important part of our testing and tracing measures going forward”.
“The app will augment the existing contact tracing operations by quickly notifying users if they have been a close contact of a confirmed case, enabling users to record symptoms, and providing a trusted source of information about Covid-19.”
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The Garda is a gigantic mess. This new fella Drew is just as bad as the rest he can’t make his own mind up and watch as it all unfolds again like an orange. The entire Garda management team are the old Guard, they need to be thrown out and a team of competent people put in.
@Dave.: seems like Drew Harris is actually trying to shake things up a bit.
@Dave.: Strange that you acknowledge the gigantic mess the Gardai are in and yet want to get rid of the man in charge of sorting out the mess after he is in the job just a month. Did you expect him to have sorted all the issues out by now?
@Dave Byrne: Agreed Dave Byrne, the other Dave has the F.O.Sh factor this morning, Full Of Sh1 t…
@Dave Byrne: yeah I thought that too…hes only in the job a wet weekend…..you vanshift through decades of “rot” in a Month….rome wasn’t built in a day and all them clliches
@Charles Murr & Dave Byrne In fairness to the original poster Dave, you should both look at his post again – he doesn`t advocate for Harris to be removed, he is saying the Entire team of managers are the OLD guard and need to be removed,and a competent team put in – clue is in the OLD GUARD line
looks like you took one too many slurps from your own bullchit cup this morning yourself Charles
@Tadhg: Don’t come crawling to me complaining when another one goes Tadhg.
@Pixie McMullen: in fairness, he said he was as bad as the rest! The lad’s points are valid.
@Tadhg: be careful what you wish for. We had him up in the north for over 29 years all he could do was cover up state sponsored collusion. I have the letters he signed about my parents murders to prove it.
@Dave.: I can’t believe someone mentioned the word “orange” in the same sentence as “Drew Harris”. Careful now……
@Dave.: just the one Garda?
@Dave.: u need more education,.
@Dave Byrne:
A lot of people on here detest the New Commissioner due to his NI background.
That’s why they are smearing him just a few weeks into his job.
@Michael Heery: I agree that everyone needs more education. Whats your point?
@Dave Ashmore: Not sure who he was apeeling to. And is this a real orange or a Terry’s Chocolate one?
The problem does not always fall at the feet of management.
The problem lies in the job for life and almost impossible to fire conditions for public servants.
The conditions should be changed so that non performing, incompetence and serial absenteeism
would result in dismissal without a golden handshake.
Hopefully this is where we will see the new Commissioner make his mark, get rid of all of the old Deadwood in the Force, and drag AGS kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
nice to see a civil servant FINALLY taking a hit like this. Teflon employees, civilians running the security of the country into the ground. now we need the defence forces Chief of Staff to do the same for the defence forces and vote no confidence in their civilian leadership.
On full pay?
@Fiasco99: you can’t suspend somebody unpaid prior to an investigation and hearing. Maybe in the case of gross misconduct, but gross misconduct isn’t alleged here
@Paddington C.: In this case he was following orders…now whether the orders were lawful and whether he knew they were or not is another question. The Gardai need their fall guy though and he’s it..
@John Ryan: hes a fall guy others lose phones and texts and its all ok
What a despot country
@Martin Brennan: haha, our country is a bit sloppy for sure. But you don’t know what despot means, because it doesn’t apply to a country, and if it did it wouldn’t apply to Ireland.
Looks happy enough in the photo
@Quentin Moriarty: was it taken today ?
@Gerry Cummins: judging by the shadows cast by his collar and evidence of warm garb…..possibly
Harris needs to clean this mess up the taxpayer cannot continue to pick up the tab for this nonsense.
Be great to be suspended with pay
@Drahcir Neirbo: i think they call it jobseekers allowance
Can you imagine the task ahead of Harris? After a month in the Job he’s starting to take action. I must have taken that long just to go through all the paperwork on this one case alone.
Just imagine the amount of files he will need to go through, to get a handle on the corruption in the force. I say fair play to him and let’s give the man a chance. Forget about his background and let judge him on what he does now.
have your say