As Europe faces 2nd wave of virus, tracing apps lack impact
LONDON — Mobile apps tracing new COVID-19 cases were touted as a key part of Europe’s plan to beat the coronavirus outbreak. Seven months into the pandemic, virus cases are surging again and the apps have not been widely adopted due to privacy concerns, technical problems and lack of interest from the public.
Britain, Portugal and Finland this month became the latest to unveil smartphone apps that alert people if they’ve been near someonewhoturned out to be infected so they can seek treatment or isolate— a key step in breaking the chain of contagion.
But a few countries have scrapped their tracing apps and others that have rolled them out have found so few users that the technology is not effective.
The adoption rate goes from about a third of the population in Finland and Ireland, to some 22% in Germany and a meager 4% in France.
Health officials initially targeted a 60% adoption rate, an optimistic goal based on an Oxford University study from April although researchers noted a lower uptake still helps if other measures, such as social distancing, are enforced.
Kevin Kelly, an accountant in Limerick, Ireland, says his country’s app is easy to use and helps gauge local infection trends by showing how many cases each county has.
He mainly uses the check-in feature to report his symptoms daily, but worries that only a fraction of the other 1.3 million users do, too.
“Everyone downloaded it, but I’m not sure who is regularly using it,” Kelly, 43, said.
The exposure alert function has been less useful: he hasn’t received any.
“Unless there’s a huge surge, which I suppose it may happen, that’s when we’ll see howeffective it is.”
Finland’s app quickly became one of Europe’s most popular when it launched at the start of September, racking up about 1 million downloads in the first 24 hours.
Downloads have kept rising, roughly a thirdof the country’s 5.5 million people nowhave it.
“I’ve gotten several calls from people in their eighties calling to knowhowthe application works,” said Aleksei Yrttiaho, a spokesman for the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
Public trust in the government helps allay concerns about privacy and government surveillance first raised when some countries launched tracing apps months earlier.
Finnish users said they felt it was a civic responsibility to install it.
“It’s our duty to take of care of the health of our fellow citizens and those close to us,” said William Oesch, 44, a photographer inHelsinki.
Ella Ahmas, a 23-yearold business student at Aalto University, said she was surprised the government had been able to persuade somany people to download it, when Finns have been less willing to use simpler methods like wearing masks on public transport.
“It’s not really a huge effort to download the app, which works on its own,” she said.