The NZACA shares the Government’s concerns over the declining public use of the NZ COVID Tracer app.
Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins said the use of the app had been “woeful” over the holiday period, with daily scan data showing the lowest figures since August 2020.
The information recorded by the app gives contact tracers a head start whenever COVID-19 re-emerges in the community. By helping contact tracers quickly identify close contacts, New Zealand can get ahead of the virus and quickly break the chain of transmission. With the new, more transmissible strains of the virus reaching New Zealand’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) facilities, it is imperative for Kiwis to use the app to check in at all businesses and services they visit, this includes aged residential care (ARC) facilities.
The Association strongly encourages its members to require that, as a condition of entry, all visitors scan the unique COVID Tracer QR Code at every facility visit (or record the visit using a paper-based sign-in register if this is not possible). Staff, contractors, and members of the allied workforce should also be scanning at each shift/visit.
For support with the app, visit the Ministry of Health site here.
Finding the COVID Tracer app hard to open? Dr Michelle Dickinson, also known as Nanogirl, has shared a ‘life changing app hack’ for iPhone users here.
The nearly 40,000 residents who we look after in ARC are the most vulnerable of all New Zealanders and consistent use of the COVID Tracer app is something we must all be doing to help protect them in the event of another outbreak.
Simon Wallace
Chief Executive
