You can see that there is value in contact tracing for those affected by Coronavirus – or at least there would have been if the Government had set out to do this first of all.
With COVID-19 clearly now circulating at will throughout the population, there really is limited scope to achieve anything from trying to manage the spread of Coronavirus by monitoring contact and spread, unless it is of course just another excuse and part of the Government’s propaganda parade.
Worryingly, the Health Secretary has hinted that the Lockdown will not end until contact tracing can be carried out universally. To do so is just another attempt by a Government on borrowed time attempting to bolt the stable door after the horse has already bolted.
Worse still, the suggestion in the media that the Government may attempt to utilise smartphones to monitor contact throughout the population hints that there may be something far more sinister and darker at work in their approach or to fear from yet another thing they may be about to do without thinking it through.
With the UK already experiencing a police state – albeit in good humour because so far it’s been sold as a way to save life and labelled like it is still voluntary for us all in some way – it will take very little on the part of the Government or the Public Sector to misuse their trust and responsibility further and push down on the population of this Country very hard indeed.
The collection of data in this way and the opportunities to grab highly personal information in a much wider and potentially damaging way is not something that any of us should readily agree to – particularly when there is going to be no benefit to the fight against COVID-19 – no matter what the Government tells us.
The fairest and most sensible way to collect data on who has had Coronavirus would be to utilise the Government Portal and make it obligatory for everyone who has the illness to register that they have it, and issue a unique reference number to each person registered that they must then use to access COVID-19 sick pay or anything else related to whatever claim they might have.
This is the best way to get real data about who has, who has had and who hasn’t had Coronavirus that the Government can access legitimately using a system that already exists and will therefore cost very little to adapt of change for this use.
Sadly, the reality that our Politicians have no concept of cause, effect and the law of consequences and always choose the complicated solutions rather than the simple ones as they should, means that there is little or no mileage for a way of working that will help others but not make them look good themselves.
The Lockdown needs to end NOW and the Government should not be looking to continue with a Lockdown at any level, when it has, had and continues to have a much better choice.
Our freedoms are genuinely at risk with these Politicians in charge and we should all be thinking carefully about the choices we continue to make in respect of supporting a Government in the process of throwing us off a cliff whilst we still have the choice.
Adam Tugwell 