Kristen Zanoni  |  October 22, 2020

Category: Covid-19

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A sign on a UK street encourages people with COVID-19 symptoms to self-isolate immediately and get tested as soon as possible - test and trace data

The U.K. government has given the police the authority to access National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace data to verify that self-isolating individuals are following the rules. 

In an effort to tighten up rules for people breaking the coronavirus guidelines, the Department of Health and Social Care (DSHC) will be providing the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) with patient information for coronavirus-positive individuals who have been mandated to self-isolate, according to Business Insider.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given police access to test and trace data to check on self-isolating individuals to keep anyone from disregarding the rules, Business Insider reported. 

According to U.K. law, those who test positive for the coronavirus must self-isolate for 10 days. 

Anyone living with a coronavirus-positive person must also self-isolate for two weeks. 

Test and trace data obtained by the police will include addresses, contact details and names of self-isolating individuals, Business Insider reported.

“The memorandum of understanding ensures that information is shared with appropriate safeguards and in accordance with the law,” an NPCC spokesman wrote in an email, according to Reuters. “No testing or health data is shared in this process.”

If someone who has been told to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 and breaks the law, fines start at £1,000. Repeat perpetrators or anyone actively breaching the law can be subjected to fines as high as £10,000.

Anyone found not self-isolating “without reasonable justification” will have their test and trace data sent to the police says the DSHC, The Guardian reported.

The BBC reports the test and trace data will be shared on a “case-by-case basis.”

However, there are some concerns about giving police access to test and trace data.

NHS COVID-19 app download screen on smartphone - test and trace dataAccording to the BBC, the British Medical Association worries people might not want to get tested knowing the police may have access to their information. 

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the policy needs to be done away with as soon as possible and called it a “huge mistake,” the BBC reported.

“Anything that further undermines the public’s dwindling trust in this government’s handling of the pandemic is damaging, and few things could have been better designed to do that than this,” Davey said.

“Asking our already overstretched police service to take on this task is both self-defeating and a serious misjudgment,” he added, according to The Guardian.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association (BMA) said the test and trace data system requires”the full confidence of the public” to be productive, the BBC reported.

“We are already concerned that some people are deterred from being tested because they are anxious about loss of income should they need to self-isolate — and we are worried should police involvement add to this,” the BMA spokesperson said. “Therefore, the government’s emphasis should be on providing support to people — financial and otherwise — if they need to self-isolate, so that no-one is deterred from coming forward for a test.”

The NHS COVID-19 app will still be anonymous, and police will not have access to it, according to the BBC.

Eleven percent of people who were found to be a close contact of a COVID-19-positive person said they self-isolated for two weeks, a government study revealed, according to the BBC.

Most people said the reasons for breaking the self-isolation law were that it made little sense to isolate if people cannot distance from other household members, they did not develop symptoms or they were still allowed to visit essential businesses.

What do you think about the police having access to test and trace data? Do you think this measure has gone too far or do you think it is necessary to keep people from breaking the law? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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