The Coronavirus Thread

[pErvinalia]

Seems a bit fear-mongering.

Does that mean the idea disturbed you or that it's just a bit of overblown hyperbole?

It seems like fear mongering. I.e. I'm not worried about it as it seems overblown. There's no reason to expect a rare occurrence about to occur presently.

[Brian Peacock]

Seems a bit fear-mongering.

Does that mean the idea disturbed you or that it's just a bit of overblown hyperbole?

It seems like fear mongering. I.e. I'm not worried about it as it seems overblown. There's no reason to expect a rare occurrence about to occur presently.

But at the same time would you say that there's no reason to not prepare?

The UK gov war-gamed a virulent flu outbreak in 2016, the report of which concluded that we were unprepared to meet such a challenge in terms of equipment, supply chains, infrastructure, and comms. The report was filed and no measures were taken, perhaps because ministers thought there was no reason to expect a rare seasonal flu epidemic before the next election.

[Scot Dutchy]

Got to keep the paranoia going. After facemasks it will be the app when Big Brother really takes over. The Irish have had a 60% take up of their app. So now 60% of the population can be followed. The data will be destroyed after two weeks! Pull the other one its got bells on. The Dutch government have refused to take part in any development of the app. Google and Apple had offered.

[pErvinalia]

...

[JimC]

Zoonotic disease outbreaks were perhaps once considered "rare". Not so much any more...

[pErvinalia]

Hypnotic ones are the ones to fear!

[Sean Hayden]

Got to keep the paranoia going. After facemasks it will be the app when Big Brother really takes over. The Irish have had a 60% take up of their app. So now 60% of the population can be followed. The data will be destroyed after two weeks! Pull the other one its got bells on. The Dutch government have refused to take part in any development of the app. Google and Apple had offered.

What sort of data are we talking about? Is it something our phones aren't collecting?

[JimC]

I misread the Victorian case numbers before. It was 317, not 270...

[rainbow]

It is certainly possible, given that the more humans disturb ecosystems and bring wild animals into wet markets, the more likely zoonotic outbreaks are possible. Covid-19 will be an issue for years, so the chances of another one appearing while we are still dealing with it seem quite high to me...

Meh. As we speak Mers-22 is happily incubating in a camel somewhere in the desert.

We'll all be nostalgical about how worried we were about that Covid-thingy.
LOL, we'll all say between gasps.

[Scot Dutchy]

Got to keep the paranoia going. After facemasks it will be the app when Big Brother really takes over. The Irish have had a 60% take up of their app. So now 60% of the population can be followed. The data will be destroyed after two weeks! Pull the other one its got bells on. The Dutch government have refused to take part in any development of the app. Google and Apple had offered.

What sort of data are we talking about? Is it something our phones aren't collecting?

You do realise how the app works? Your location is being recorded the whole time for tracing. If an infected person is near you then you have to be tested and if you prove positive your route has to be check so where do those records are kept? Big Brother. A crime is committed and now the police have a load of new suspects to check out.

[Sean Hayden]

No, I haven't paid attention to it. Is everyone using the same app?

[NineBerry]

No, the tracing apps using the phone api don't record your location history. The phones send out random bluetooth beacons to nearby phones. Phones only record beacons they saw on the phone itself. No data is sent to servers. Only if you are tested positive, you send the list of your past beacons to a server. The beacons are useless to anyone. They don't contain location information. The contact matching again happens on the phones themselves.

[NineBerry]

No, I haven't paid attention to it. Is everyone using the same app?

Apple and Google created an API for contact tracing that most of the European apps use. It means that the operating system does the actual work and no information ever leaves the phone (except when you are tested positive). Some countries created their own apps that try to use Bluetooth on their own (e.g. France). But those apps suck, because they need to be active to actually work, otherwise the operating will block them while they are in the background.

[pErvinalia]

Got to keep the paranoia going. After facemasks it will be the app when Big Brother really takes over. The Irish have had a 60% take up of their app. So now 60% of the population can be followed. The data will be destroyed after two weeks! Pull the other one its got bells on. The Dutch government have refused to take part in any development of the app. Google and Apple had offered.

What sort of data are we talking about? Is it something our phones aren't collecting?

You do realise how the app works? Your location is being recorded the whole time for tracing. If an infected person is near you then you have to be tested and if you prove positive your route has to be check so where do those records are kept? Big Brother. A crime is committed and now the police have a load of new suspects to check out.

As Sean was implying most people have location on all the time anyway (I don't). So Google knows everything about where you've been. The Australian app doesn't record locations, only contacts between people that meet a certain standard (longer than 15 minutes, and within 4(?) metres). That could be a privacy concern, say for journalists meeting sources who are critical of the government, but in those cases they'd be well advised not to use the app. For the vast majority of people there's nothing to be afraid of. No data is transferred to anyone, unless someone advises they tested positive and then consents for their bluetooth contact data to be shared.

[Scot Dutchy]

No, I haven't paid attention to it. Is everyone using the same app?

Apple and Google created an API for contact tracing that most of the European apps use. It means that the operating system does the actual work and no information ever leaves the phone (except when you are tested positive). Some countries created their own apps that try to use Bluetooth on their own (e.g. France). But those apps suck, because they need to be active to actually work, otherwise the operating will block them while they are in the background.

It would be nice if that was true. I dont trust them. Anything Google does there must something in it for Google. So how does tracing work? You pass an infected person how are your contacts traced if it is not recorded?
It would never have passed the courts here. Too much loss of privacy.