Number Of Track And Trace Check-Ins Falling

The number of people checking in using the track and trace app in Jersey is gradually falling, prompting the officer leading Jersey's COVID Safe Team to call on businesses and customers 'to do their part'.

There were around 70.000 check-ins a month in March and April.

It fell to around 60,000 in May, June, and July. Around 50,000 check-ins are predicted for August, given the number recorded so far this month.

Most COVID restrictions will end on Thursday 26 August, but the need to collect customers' contact details will remain.

Matt Chatterley owns Trax - he thinks the drop could be down to 'pandemic fatigue'.

"We're very lucky in Jersey in that we're maybe sheltered from why we're having to do them.

"I think it's important to note that when we do get to August 26, this is the last restriction or requirement that is being left in place - and for very good reason.

"With this being the last thing we keep in place, it speaks directly to our ability to react to an outbreak if there were to be one, which is the thing we hope won't happen right?

"But if it were to happen, could we identify people who may have been exposed for their safety and the safety of the community? That's obviously a super-important thing we're able to do."

The legal requirement to fill in your details when going to places that serve food and/or drink in Jersey has been in place since 21 May 2020.

It requires the customer to fill in their name and phone number, so they can be contacted in case they are a close contact of a Covid-19 case.

COVID Safe Officers are resuming business checks to ensure track and trace rules are being followed.

They were carried out last year but had stopped temporarily because members of the COVID Safe team were having to isolate.

"Businesses have had a tough time recently. We obviously saw the third wave (of coronavirus) peak in July time and that meant there were fewer individuals available to be able to work in hospitality and other industries.

"It's just a reminder to businesses that legally you are required to do this, to get the check-in data.

"We will look to check that you are taking the information and you're doing that element of requirements and also give business continuity advice, how best to make sure that your staff are protected from catching COVID and therefore not being able to come into work.

"We get both general data and also business-specific data. So we will know how many check-ins a business has had over the course of a week or a day.

"We can compare that with how successful a business is. If we've seen lots of check-ins, we think fantastic it's a successful business.

"If we see a business that repeatedly has only two or three individuals check-in over the course of a week, that indicates that either it's not particularly successful or that it's not meeting its legal requirements." - Caroline Maffia, Strategic lead for COVID Safe.

Around 350 venues across Jersey are using Trax.

The information given through Trax to each venue goes into a closed system. It is only released to the government contact tracing team upon request from the government.

After 21 days, the data customers' provide is destroyed.

"If you're going out say every week, we probably have got a copy of your contact details in there from your more recent check-ins, but we do as much as we possibly can to keep those private and we protect them like we would our own information." - Matt Chatterley, Code.je.