What is the plan for CWA?

[Ein-Tim]

Your Question

Politics made clear this week, that if nothing unexpected happens, most Corona restrictions will be lifted time by time. With this political change, the question what happens with CWA arises? Is the project team planning to add new features to the app which supports users who want to stay careful, even after 19.03.2022? Or are you planning to continuing development as nothing happened?

Some questions users ask themselves:

• What use has the exposure logging for me as a user after 19.03.2022? - Will there be any consequences of a red warning?
• Should I still maintain the contact journal?
• Is the check-in feature useful? CWA Check-ins are currently rare and will probably become even rarer when restrictions are lifted on 19.03.2022
• I don't need to show my EU DCCs in every day life situation, but OK, I can still have them laying around in CWA, but for what?

To summarize this issue: I want to make sure the team has a plan and does not continue development as nothing ever happened.

[Jo-Achim]

Clairvoyance is difficult. But even if it currently seems as if Corona is over... we should (better) be prepared if something similar happens to us in autumn / winter as in the last 2 years. It will probably be right to develop at least certain items from the to-do / wish list further or to complete them and to eliminate known errors / problems.

Irrespective of this, the individual federal states should be given the opportunity via "hotspot regulations" to be able to reintroduce (previous) restrictions at any time if the corresponding incidences occur, critical infrastructures are overloaded, etc. Then the functions of the CWA would actually be in demand again or would still be in demand and important.

This would, for example, also affect vaccination statuses and their evidence; currently older people are already being offered the 4th vaccination - i.e. the 2nd booster. Irrespective of this, the validity of the vaccination certificates is still limited in time, which could become relevant against the background of 'new virus variants'.

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To round out the picture in other words: Yesterday (03/10/2022) alone we had over 250,000 new infections in Germany and our politicians still want to take further opening steps (keyword: "Freedom day"). At the same time, opening steps that have already been taken are at least partly responsible for the current increase in the incidence. Against this background alone, I see the continued need for the CWA. In addition - regardless of the vaccination status -, even if the current steps are to be accounted for against the background of a certain 'harmlessness' (real, because of vaccinations, ...) of the Omicron variant, there is the danger that future mutations will have a similar or higher infection potential and, at the same time, could have the health hazards of the Delta variant. Even then, we will continue to need the CWA. Which is why further development as described above is certainly necessary and sensible.

Personally, I currently only see a possibility of doing without the CWA if the SARS-CoV-2 virus, be it through vaccinations, herd immunity, drugs that are effective after the onset of the disease, can be classified at the level of danger of a seasonal influenza. And further development at this level of danger remains permanent.

[NicoErnst]

I agree to all of the above.

From what I see in the field, and based on the feedback to our Twitter-Space #CWAweekly there are two "killer-features", that people really understand and are used to:

1.) Vacc-certificates, this could be increasingly important in the travel season in summer. 2.) Check-ins - although Tim is right that these are still rare.

On 2.): Voluntary use in e.g. workplace, businesses or for private events should be recommended more. I, for instance, will be working at a wedding with 200 people in May. It was really easy to convince the couple to use CWA-checkin as this can be communicated as a service and taking care of the guests.

Anything that makes this easier and more comfortable would be most helpfull.

[Jo-Achim]

Anything that makes this easier and more comfortable would be most helpfull.

Right. E.g.: Check-In / -Scan: Suggestion for functional expansion and flexibility ... or similar.

[MikeMcC399]

https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Lauterbach-Freedom-Day-wird-es-nicht-geben-article23196500.html "Gesundheitsminister Karl Lauterbach pocht bei den künftigen Schutzmaßnahmen weiter auf die Zuständigkeit der Bundesländer. Sie sollen die Möglichkeit nutzen, geltende Maßnahmen bis zum 2. April zu verlängern. Einen "Freedom Day" werde es somit nicht geben."

[Ein-Tim]

@MikeMcC399

Thank you.

I will close this issue now, more concrete issues should be opened for the remaining points.

[MikeMcC399]

@Ein-Tim

• It would be useful in any case to know what the plans are for CWA over the next weeks and months. This is a long-standing open issue. See for instance https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-wishlist/issues/258

[Ein-Tim]

@MikeMcC399

Yes agreed. What do you think, should I leave this issue open?

[MikeMcC399]

@Ein-Tim

What do you think, should I leave this issue open?

If you remove "after "Freedom" day" from the title, you could leave the issue open, as the questions you ask are still relevant.

[Ein-Tim]

The federal minister of health today announced that, starting on 01.05.2022, isolating when tested positive on SARS-CoV-2 is not mandatory anymore. After this date, I am really struggling to see the use of the CWA.

While it can certainly warn you if you met someone before they tested positive, it can't warn you if you met someone after they tested positive.

[Jo-Achim]

That's kind of right. But if we don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, we should at least be prepared for the coming fall. (Apart from new virus variants.) Seen in this way, the statement seems premature to me.

After this date, I am really struggling to see the use of the CWA.

And, as I said before, also against the background of an 'internal tidying up' within the CWA and the long wish lists, some of which should perhaps still be realised. Admittedly, this only makes sense if you want to exercise a certain amount of caution. Because the topic also includes the recognition of a new influence, the epidemiological seriousness of which cannot necessarily be assumed.

[Ein-Tim]

@Jo-Achim

And, as I said before, also against the background of an 'internal tidying up' within the CWA and the long wish lists, some of which should perhaps still be realised.

I definitely agree with you. There should be a two-steps process here:

1. Do some housekeeping in the GitHub repos, fix reported bugs or close these which won't be tackled. While this is done by the development team, RKI prepares for Phase 2;
2. Implement as many, senseful, extensions of the CWA, either proposed via the wishlist or on other ways. Maybe start a survey, which features users are missing in the CWA.

[Jo-Achim]

The federal minister of health today announced that, starting on 01.05.2022, isolating when tested positive on SARS-CoV-2 is not mandatory anymore. After this date, I am really struggling to see the use of the CWA.

And with today's announcement, the Minister of Health - as announced yesterday (April 05, 2022) in the Markus Lanz (ZDF) program - withdrew this point again. See: Doch keine freiwillige Corona-Isolation. Isolation if the test is positive should continue to be mandatory. Only the quarantine should be 'voluntary'. The reasoning was: If the mandatory isolation in the case of a positive corona test were dropped, this would send the wrong signal in the direction of the 'harmlessness of the corona virus'.

[Ein-Tim]

This is a very unspecific issue, therefore I'm closing it now.