Mobility data suggests that public behaviour hasn’t changed much since 19 July, so-called ‘freedom day’. One suspects that part of the reason for this is fear of being ‘pinged’.
Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and chair of the Commons health committee, a fortnight ago called for the double vaccinated to be excused from self-isolation if pinged (this change is only due to happen from the 16 August). Hunt warned that without that, ‘social consent’ for the app might be lost as so many people are forced into isolation. Other Tory MPs have privately argued that the app should be made less sensitive.
Today, the government has announced that the app will be tweaked so that fewer contacts will be told to isolate. This will be done by only looking at the last two days of contacts for asymptomatic people who test positive, rather than the previous five days. This should make the app less disruptive.
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