Territory Check In app: Exposed people react to vague alerts

People who were exposed to Covid across the Territory have received their alerts after a week without them, but there are major details missing.

UPDATE: TERRITORIANS who mistakenly were not sent a text after being at an exposure site for a week have expressed their disappointment at how vague the notification is.

There is no mention of which venue, what date and what level of exposure in the texts.

A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told The NT News the alerts were “useless”.

“There is absolutely no detail about when and where I was exposed,” she said.

“So I can’t assess how long I should stay away from my 3-month-old grandson nor can I assess my knowledge of the degree to which I came near to anyone in the premises involved.”

She said she felt for the wider NT community.

“We’ve all been diligently checking in, but what’s the point if we don’t get a message that we were at a hotspot seven days later,” she said.

“How is anyone in the NT community being set up to manage risk and the vulnerable around us?”

Industry leaders react to app bungle

INDUSTRY leaders have slammed the failure to inform Territorians who have checked in at exposure sites for up to 10 days.

This comes after Chief Minister Michael Gunner apologised that no messages had been sent over the past week.

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce condemned the mismanagement of the app calling the system cumbersome.

“Earlier this week Medicare online was down and customers were being turned away,” Mr Bruce said.

“Now we hear they aren’t even using the Check-In data they are forcing us to police.

“With high vax rates and those choosing not to get vaxxed not budging how much longer does this cumbersome system have to be in place?

Jordan Amiens from Duke Cafe and Eatery said he has to tell at least a third of his customers to check in and there was still confusion over venues’ role in the Covid fight.

“I thought the rules were about protecting workers and keeping customers safe,” he said.

Mr Gunner said there were ‘no excuses’ for the blunder and confirmed that an employee had been stood down from the operation centre as a result.

“This was a clear decision and a clear direction by the Security and Emergency Management Committee, he said. This direction was not implemented which is unacceptable.

“These messages are not a direction to get tested, they’re giving you information you deserve to know — I am sorry this did not happen.”

It comes after the government made the decision to stop listing public exposure sites.

Shadow Health Minister Bill Yan called the mismanagement in handling the Covid app a disgrace.

“The announcement that the Gunner Labor Government has not informed any Territorians if they have been in an exposure site for up to 10 days is unacceptable” Mr Yan said.

“They have stopped listing exposure sites on the website before verifying that the text messages were functioning as planned and this puts Territorians lives further at risk.

“The Chief Minister and Health Minister continue to emphasise how important it is for every Territorian to do the right thing and check-in everywhere they go, but can’t be bothered to check up on their own system for over a week.”

Mr Gunner said Territorians would start receiving the missed notifications from 3pm on Friday.

Meanwhile there were 546 new Covid cases reported, with 27 in hospital.

EARLIER: THE Chief Minister has condemned the failure to send out text messages to Territorians who checked in at exposure sites over the last week.

Michael Gunner said they were notified that no messages had been sent over the past week, saying there were “no excuses”.

“This was a clear decision and a clear direction by the Security and Emergency Management Committee.

“This direction was not implemented which is unacceptable.

“These messages are not a direction to get tested, they’re giving you information you deserve to know — I am sorry this did not happen,” he said.

An employee has been stood down from the operation centre and will return to regular duties.

The government were only alerted to the error after requesting an update on how it was going, following the NT News questioning how many texts have been sent since last year.

It comes after the government made the decision to stop listing public exposure sites.

Mr Gunner said it was pleasing to see testing rates remain stable despite the lack of exposure site notifications.

“Territorians have already been terrific,” he said.

“People with symptoms are already getting themselves tested as they should.”

Mr Gunner said Territorians will start receiving the missed notifications from 3pm.

Meanwhile, 546 new cases were recorded to 8pm Thursday night, with 27 cases in hospital.

Mr Gunner announced the lockout for Yuendumu and Yuelamu would continue for an additional five days.

However he said the vaccination rate of these communities had seen an “encouraging” increase.

There remains 16 cases in Amoonguna after they went into lockout on Thursday night.