Kiwis are travelling to Central Otago in their numbers this summer to enjoy everything we have on offer; using the NZ COVID Tracer app is more important than ever and yet use is declining.

The Ministry of Health released some impressive-sounding statistics this week.

The NZ COVID Tracer app now has 2,420,400 registered users. As of this week, poster scans had reached 144,622,903 and app users had created 5,829,315 manual diary entries.

With news that any immunisation rollout in New Zealand will not be started until the second quarter of 2021, the government is encouraging all of us to actively use the COVID Tracer app.

It is a vital part of the nation’s plan to manage COVID-19 while many people are travelling around the country during this holiday period.

However, in a statement to the media on Monday, Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins described New Zealanders’ use of the NZ COVID Tracer app so far this summer as “woeful”.

Lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology Farkhondeh Hassandoust confirmed that during the past few weeks, the number of daily scans had “dropped significantly” from over 900,000 scans per day at the end of November, to less than 400,000 by mid-December.

(Continue reading below)

Advertisement

This drop in use would significantly impact contact tracing in the event of COVID-19 in the community.

The New Zealand government has been monitoring overseas developments very closely, and, like many other governments has heightened concerns about the new variants of the virus that have emerged and their potential to spread extremely fast, combined with the ongoing high rates of infection in some countries.

The Ministry of Health announced the NZ COVID Tracer app had an update before Christmas, to provide Bluetooth tracing. They cited this as a significant step in supporting our contact tracing efforts and staying safe over summer.

The Ministry states the following on their website:

“The information we record with the app gives contact tracers a head start whenever COVID-19 re-emerges in the community.

“By helping contact tracers quickly identify close contacts, we can get ahead of the virus and quickly break the chain of transmission.”

In August this year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced it was mandatory for businesses to display COVID Tracer app QR codes.

However, the codes still need to be scanned by everyone entering every business.

The government did not take the step to make it mandatory for individuals to scan, instead relying on people to do the ‘right thing’ in the interests of keeping us all safe.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield reminded us recently that scanning with the app was a key step to keep ourselves, our families and whānau, and our communities safer.

It is a way, he said, for us all to support Aotearoa New Zealand to stop COVID-19 spreading here.