In the wake of a COVID-19 infected individual visiting an Auckland pub, the Health Minister is urging Kiwis to scan QR codes - something data shows is happening less and less often.
On Wednesday night, the Auckland Regional Public Health Services revealed an individual who has now tested positive for COVID-19 "was infectious" while at The Malt pub in Greenhithe last Friday.
The infected person was one of the cases announced on Wednesday linked to Sunday's positive port worker. Health Minister Chris Hipkins says the person was exposed on the same day they visited the pub, so the risk of infecting others there was low.
While most of those at the Auckland establishment at the time are considered casual contacts, all customers and staff have been asked to isolate and get tested.
Anyone who scanned the COVID-19 Tracer app at The Malt should have received a notification informing them of their potential exposure.
Speaking to RNZ on Thursday morning, Hipkins emphasised this incident shows how important QR code scanning is as part of the contact tracing regime.
"A push notification was sent out last night to everyone who was in the pub at the time. The person was dining with a group of friends. That group of friends, obviously we have names for them, so we have been contacting them," he said.
"But other people who were in the pub will get a push notification assuming they had been using the QR code scanner. It reinforces, of course, why we ask people to continue using that QR code scanner as you never quite know when this might pop up.
"It means we can send out that push notification to let them know they were in a place where someone has tested positive, so they should isolate and get a test if they start to feel unwell."
Ministry of Health data shows how far the number of daily QR code scans has fallen since the Auckland August outbreak.
This graph shows the number of COVID Tracer scans since two days before the Auckland August outbreak:
On August 12, when the super city moved into alert level 3 lockdown, there were 147,688 QR scans. This jumped to a peak of 2,5099,166 scans on September 5, but has consistently dropped since.
On September 24, Auckland's first day back at alert level 2, there were 1,160,594 scans. When the city went to alert level 1 on October 8, there were 877,920. On Tuesday, there was just 367,566.
Asked if there was anything he wanted to see tightened or improved, Hipkins told RNZ that along with constantly bettering our testing regime, he wants more people using the scanner.
"We have seen in recent weeks as the number of cases has declined that people's use of the QR code has declined. This incident in the pub or this event in the pub shows just how valuable that information can be because we can send out a push notification quickly to everyone who was in that area."
Call for businesses to prompt customers to scan in
University of Auckland professor Shaun Hendy says while the app isn't a "silver bullet", the dropoff is concerning.
"We are certainly becoming a little more relaxed about using those QR codes. That is a little bit concerning. It is one of the important tools that we have to control an outbreak so it would be good if people could pull out their phones and keep scanning," he told RNZ earlier this week.
He wants to see more businesses actively encouraging customers to use the application.
"I have found it quite easy to find the QR codes but I haven't been prompted by businesses to scan the code. I have not been asked whether I have scanned the code. That is something businesses could be taking a little bit more responsibility for, just prompting their customers, reminding people to scan the code.
"It's part of taking care of your customers. Should we have another outbreak, the app is one of the tools that will potentially keep people safe. If you have been exposed, a notification through the app could prevent you from passing that on from your family, for example."
Dr Hendy said if a large number of people were using the application, it would bring down the R0 number by 10 percent should we have another outbreak. That means far fewer people infected.
"If you get infected, you will go on to infect. So the key thing is to keep that number below 1. If we can keep it below 1, then an outbreak won't spread."
ACT says Tracer app has failed
The ACT Party is concerned about the apps' effectiveness.
"Confusion is reigning after patrons at a pub may have been exposed to COVID, and the problem is a total failure of the Government's NZ COVID Tracer app," leader David Seymour said on Thursday.
He said if the average person went to five places a day, there should be roughly 20 million scans daily.
"The question that needs to be asked is: How useful has the NZ COVID Tracer app been for tracing patrons of The Malt Greenhithe last Friday? How many scans were done at that location on that day? How many people have been traced thanks to using the app?"
Seymour says we are relying on manual contact tracing and luck.
Hipkins told RNZ the contact tracing system is doing exactly as it is meant to.
"Obviously, any COVID-19 cases is a concern to us. We watch them very, very closely. We watch the contact tracing very closely to tell us what that is showing up.
"At this point, the contact tracing system is working exactly as we intended, exactly as it is designed to which is that we are quickly locating anyone who has been into contact with people who have been confirmed cases and getting them isolated."
He said there is no information at this stage to say moving up an alert level is necessary.
Both of the community cases announced on Tuesday are workplace contacts of the Sunday port worker.
