Even when the CoronaMelder app was almost finished, the GGD was not at all convinced of the usefulness of the app. The health service also warned against the haste that the Ministry of Health had in its introduction, according to internal documents obtained by the NOS on the basis of the Government Information (Public Access) Act.
The GGD feared the app would have a “disruptive effect” on the source and contact investigation. “The app must support and not disturb the work of the GGD”, the GGD writes on June 12.
It is not clear from the documents why the GGD had doubts about the usefulness of the app. The GGD does appear to have been afraid that the preparation for the app would be at the expense of regular source and contact research. During the development of the app, the GGD was busy scaling up.
The organization also did not want people to be approached by both the app and a source and contact researcher. This cannot be prevented, because the app does not know the identity of infected persons.
‘Almost finished’
The ministry called the app “almost finished” to the outside world on June 25, but received a letter with a “serious warning” from GGD GHOR director Hugo Backx three days earlier. He said there were no plans on how to implement the app and how to measure the results. Without such plans implementation is “not feasible,” he wrote.
The letter shows that the ministry actually wanted to launch the app nationwide on July 15. “This is considerably faster than previously communicated,” said Backx in his letter. Despite the major role that the GGD plays in the app, the ministry had hardly thought about the consequences of the app for the GGD. It was also not yet clear what a user of the app should do after a report of a potentially risky contact. He therefore stressed “strongly” that the implementation was not feasible.
The warning appears to have been successful: a launch on July 15 was not forthcoming. In the end, the introduction of the app was delayed until September 1. And that date was ultimately not met, after problems with the legal substantiation for the app. Only last weekend, on October 10, the CoronaMelder became available nationwide.
If you are not yet familiar with the app; in this video we explain what it can do and how it works:
Previously, the various GGDs expressed their internal concerns about the receipt of the app. Trust had to be created in the app, otherwise the introduction would not work, according to a conversation report.
Early in the development of the corona app, Minister De Jonge was also blamed for a hasty introduction. The security services warned in April that the ministry was going too fast. At the time, De Jonge wanted to have a working corona app within a few weeks. The services called this far from realistic for a safe and privacy-friendly app.
‘Positive critical’
The GGD has announced that it is now happy with the app. “Our questions have been answered, resulting in an app that we can now work well with,” said spokesman Sonja Kloppenburg. The released documents indicate the situation in June, she emphasizes. The Ministry of VWS states that the GGDs are “positively critical” of the app and were ready in time for the introduction.
A person involved in the development of the app also states that there were many misunderstandings about the app at the GGD. “They were afraid of a privacy row,” he says.