A new tracing tool which picks up coronavirus contacts in two minutes is being rolled out in aged care homes in Sydney and Victoria, as COVID-19 forces Melbourne into the harshest lockdown seen in this country so far.
Contact Harald has been developed by RMIT Health Transformation Lab in Melbourne and Safedome, a Bluetooth tracking company that has developed apps that claim to be able to use Bluetooth to find your phone, wallet or keys.
Developers have said Contact Harald is a workplace alternative to the federal government's COVIDSafe app.
Pathways Residences (at five Sydney homes across four suburbs: Cronulla, Roseville, Kilaru and Northbridge), and Havilah Hostel (an aged care facility in Maryborough in the COVID-hit state of Victoria) are both using the system.
People are given a card which records interactions via Bluetooth when people spend two minutes within two metres of each other. (The COVIDSafe app registers contact between two users who spend 15 minutes within 1.5 metres of each other.)
If someone tests positive to coronavirus, the card information can then be added into the software and close contacts identified.
But, unlike the COVIDSafe app, government contract tracing teams don't get immediate access to the contact information – tracing is the responsibility of the company (the workplace, or in this case, aged care home) operating the devices.
Those behind it insist the data is secure.
RMIT Health Director Professor Vishaal Kishore told 9News the card holds no personal data, while the IT system keeps users' names and contact details for 20 days.
"The developers have sought to meet questions of privacy by utilising security protocols, utilising wiping at 20 day intervals and minismiing the amount of information stored," Professor Kishore said.
At Havilah Hostel in Maryborough, 93-year-old Angela said it provided some comfort.
"They give me this one, I will be safer. I appreciate it," she told 9News.
Professor Kishore said: "It's really good for those closed or what we call semi-permeable systems – like aged care facilities like perhaps educational facilities, like workplaces – where you can give everybody a card, where knowing those short interactions can be very, very important over short timeframe."
The Federal Government told 9News it welcomes any extra tool which could help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
This week, it was revealed the COVDSafe app had helped lead to the identification of two positive cases for the first time since it was launched in April.
Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said, "It's doing its job exactly as it should."
COVIDSafe has been downloaded almost 6.8 million times.
In NSW it's helped tracers identify 14 extra contacts of confirmed cases and pick up on another 544 who could have been exposed.
In Victoria, where there is widespread community transmission, data from the app has been accessed 540 times but is yet to pick up a close contact.
9News understands NSW Health is now using COVIDSafe at the forefront of its tracing system. But that's not the case in Victoria, where there has been widespread concern the tracing system is being increasingly overwhelmed.
And for those on the aged care frontline, tracing is vitally important.
"Keeping our workforce safe keeps our residents safe, then we're not understaffed. If we get half the staff kept home then we're going to be in some trouble," said Havliah board member Randall Edwards.
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