Gold standard tracing weeks away

Stuff reports:

A “gold standard” contact tracing system to manage outbreaks of coronavirus could take weeks to build, despite hopes it would come before lockdown ends. …

The public health units are a key component in the contact tracing system, which experts have said must be improved for New Zealand to safely leave lockdown, and then enter Covid-19 alert level 2 in more than two weeks time.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, who on Sunday said the “gold standard” would be reached within the next week, has indicated that increasing the system’s capacity may instead take several weeks. 

I’m not surprised. On Monday they said we were on a “pathway” to gold standard. That of course can mean anything as you can claim almost anything you do is on a pathway to a certain standard.

Considering many other countries have successfully implemented gold standard tracing, I don’t know why we don’t just purchase their software solution off them.