Kiwi here, I belive this is either snake oil or a conceptual idea rather than a product. The media are touting it as credit card sized device, but with a battery it would need to be much thicker.<p>Here in lockdown we are allowed to go for a walk or cycle. Potentially this card could register thousands of contacts.
Surely just installing an app voluntarily would get enough tracing to be effective?<p>As a kiwi who has spent half my life living in different countries, I can say trust in the government here, while not universal, is higher than anywhere else I've been. I think most people would do it
"The only central register of card IDs would be held by the Government and isolated from other Government databases, so it could not be used for anything other than Covid-19 contact tracing."<p>What does "could not" mean, anyway?
The big problem with all radio based contact tracing solutions is the receiver. Receivers use at a minimum several mW of power. A typical Bluetooth low energy receiver will use about 50mW so will drain a coin cell battery in a day. Bluetooth low energy saves energy by transmitting for very short periods of time so transmit power is low but receiver power can be high. Even asking most consumers to leave their phone's Bluetooth recovery on all day is a big ask because of the impact on battery life.<p>Schemes could be designed to better synchronise receivers and transmitters so the receiver can be switched off most of the time but this currently can't be done with Bluetooth.
Once again we ignore Asia and their clear lessons with covid-19 because they are not enough like us.<p>Electronic solutions don't work, even in compliant countries like Singapore they don't, it's boots on the ground that does.<p>Here's a good write up on Australia's attempts as they stand -<p><a href="https://medium.com/swlh/some-basic-points-on-contact-tracing-apps-7dc4df1442f2" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/swlh/some-basic-points-on-contact-tracing...</a>
With all the issues with tracing apps listed. I can see the systems around the world causing more problems than benefits for the person in the street.<p>Possibly the concern for many of ending up causing massive issues in their social and work circles. Will mean many simply wrap in tinfoil if indeed they bother to carry at all.<p>No body wants to be known as the person who sat the otherside of a drywall partition to someone covid 19 positive. Which meant they then basically quartined for two weeks all their work mates in a role which was not WFH compatible and hit them all in the wallet.
The arguments the promoting organization is using against a smartphone app (e.g. Google and Apple's thing) are pretty dubious. That seems like the easiest way to do digital tracing by far.
"Without fast case isolation after restrictions ease, modelling shows that the virus could spread exponentially and ultimately kill 100,000 Kiwis."<p>The left out the word "unreasonable". "Unresaonable modelling shows..."<p>See the Tailrisk analysis: <a href="http://www.tailrisk.co.nz/documents/Corona.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.tailrisk.co.nz/documents/Corona.pdf</a>
I think if they could both work in conjunction with each other that would be ideal. I'd try the app for sure, but success rate doesn't seem to be high enough in Singapore for an app only to be the sole solution. Use as many approaches as you can make compatible ups the chances of uptake.
This reminds me of schools early on who wanted to give all their students ipads.<p>Hello? fundamentals go much further than tech magic bullets.<p>For instance, the chinese took people's temperatures.