“Checking in helps people know if they were at a venue at the same time as a positive COVID case and reminds people to monitor their health and get tested if they have any COVID symptoms,” a spokesperson said.
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“The most important thing you can do, however, is get vaccinated or book that crucial third dose.”
Last week, NSW reinstated QR codes in shops, cafes and other settings deemed “low risk” for exposure to COVID-19, despite contact tracing now largely being a matter of personal responsibility for cases.
NSW Trade Minister Stuart Ayres said the purpose of the codes, even when they were not triggering a contact-tracing response, was to inform the community about where cases were.
“QR codes remain a requirement for higher-risk settings, and many businesses are continuing to make them available voluntarily in other settings,” he said.
The St Vincent’s Hospital COVID-19 testing station in Fitzroy was closed early on Sunday morning.Credit:Scott McNaughton
“QR codes are there to inform people about the presence of COVID cases and to advise people to monitor for symptoms.”
Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett agreed QR codes still served a purpose, helping those who tested positive to keep track of where they had been, so they could inform others they had spent time with, as well as track high-risk exposures to prompt rapid antigen testing.
“It’s to support the system, to give people a heads-up they could have an exposure and helps them be alert for symptoms,” Professor Bennett said.
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But prominent Melbourne restaurateur Chris Lucas said the rapid transmission of the Omicron strain had rendered QR codes irrelevant.
“The federal government and most of the state governments have come to the realisation that the focus needs to be on hospitalisations rather than worrying about the number of infections. So QR codes have become completely pointless, and I’m not sure why we persist with them,” Mr Lucas said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged before Christmas the increasingly different role QR codes will play, particularly in states with high case numbers.
Mr Morrison said the case numbers meant the prospect of tracing every person at a venue was unrealistic and instead, checking-in would be helpful for people to manage their own responses.
Victoria recorded 7172 new cases on Sunday. Omicron is now the state’s dominant strain.
Hospitalisations were at 472, with 98 people in intensive care and 22 on ventilators. The seven-day hospitalisation average is at 424.
Data from the Service NSW app, which manages QR-code check-ins in the state, showed individual cases were generating a lower average number of alerts than they did at the start of December, possibly an impact of the period in which some venues did not require a code, but also suggesting people could be checking in less diligently or visiting fewer locations as cases climb.
There were 10.8 million case alerts issued on the Service NSW app between December 20 and January 2, more than five times the 1.9 million issued in the two weeks to December 13, a Service NSW spokesperson said.
However, the number of new cases reported over the past two weeks was more than 28 times that recorded in the two weeks to December 13.
Doubts over usefulness of QR codes as cases spread, close contact rules change
Source: Philippines Alive
