The Corona-Warn-App was introduced to reduce the spread of the corona virus. But how do we actually react when the app suddenly lights up red? And what can the Corona-Warn-App do? We’ll enlighten you.
The Corona-Warn-App has been downloaded almost 40 million times since June 16, 2020 ( as of 06.01.22 ). The aim of the app is to warn people who have had contact with one or more people who have tested positive for Covid-19 within the last two weeks.
If someone has tested positive , they can voluntarily indicate this in the app. A QR code or a secret number on the test result, which must be scanned or entered for verification, can prevent false reports of infection. For a majority of users, the app shows green, which means that there is a low risk of infection. The app was red for more than 1.1 million users between December 1st and 7th. But what does the red indicator mean and how should we react?
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What should I do if my Corona-Warn-App shows red?
The red warning in the app means that you have been in the vicinity of a person for an extended period of time within the last 14 days who later tested positive for the corona virus, which puts you at increased risk of infection. Because the app doesn’t distinguish between vaccinated, recovered, or unvaccinated users, the red indicator doesn’t necessarily mean you’re infected. In order to be able to better assess the risk, we are also informed of the day on which the encounter took place.
Regardless of whether they are unvaccinated, vaccinated or recovered, the following behaviors are recommended:
- If possible, go home until you get a negative test result.
- If you feel ill or have symptoms, contact your family doctor or the statutory health insurance on-call service on 116 117. People who have been vaccinated and have recovered can also show symptoms.
- Take advantage of the opportunity to work from home. If that is not possible, find out more about the quarantine conditions in your district here.
- From the time of the risk encounter, a quarantine of 10 days without a test and 5 days with a PCR test should be observed. According to the RKI , those who have been fully vaccinated and those who have recovered are excluded from the quarantine measures. However, these can still be carried out voluntarily.
- Have a corona test done. You can have this carried out free of charge if there is a red warning in the app. If your rapid test is positive, this should always be confirmed by a PCR test. Go into isolation until you get a negative result. If the PCR test is also positive, remain in isolation and contact the health department.
When will the red indicator go away?
Two weeks after your Corona warning app warned you with a red tile, the ad disappeared again. If the display has disappeared after a few days, this means that the encounter in question was more than 14 days ago.
Important : Even if the Corona-Warn-App shows you a low risk and no risk encounter, you can still have had contact with an infected person. So always follow the rules of distance and hygiene to protect yourself and others.
Corona warning app: what the different colors mean
The following status information can be displayed:
- Grey, unknown risk: Either the risk determination was not active long enough or due to technical problems, eg missing Bluetooth connection, no risk could be determined. It is best to check several times a day whether “Risk determination active” is displayed at the top of the app.
- Green, Low Risk: A low risk can be shown to you if you have either not had a risky encounter, or if you have had one, but only briefly or at a sufficient distance. You can also have multiple low-risk encounters without the app turning red.
- Red, increased risk: You will be informed that you have an increased risk of infection because you have been in contact with a person who later tested positive for the coronavirus. The display is not a real-time warning. This is not possible for data protection reasons.
41 percent of users do not share their positive result via app
According to the RKI , 238,900 users reported their positive result via the app between September 1, 2020 and February 10, 2021. This corresponds to a rate of 59 percent , since the RKI has verified a total of 402,639 positive test results among app owners. Unfortunately, 41 percent of app owners do not report their positive test result via the warning app . However, this would be a helpful tool to enable infection chains to be tracked and contained. This is the only way that a risk notification can be sent to those users with whom the corona-positive person had epidemiologically relevant encounters.
How does the Corona warning app work?
The Corona-Warn-App is a so-called tracing app. This means it can use a Bluetooth connection to capture the encounter and distance between people. While you use your smartphone normally, the app runs in the background and collects data from other smartphones. This happens with the help of random IDs so that no traceability is possible. As soon as you have had an encounter with a person within the last 14 days who later tested positive for the corona virus, this will be displayed to you in the app.
Corona test positive: How do I enter the result in the app?
If you have tested positive for the corona virus, the Corona-Warn-App can only warn others if you enter the result in your app. There is a QR code on most test results that can be scanned in the app. If the respective test laboratory does not yet support this electronic procedure, you can get a Tele-TAN to enter by calling the Corona app hotline. Only positive tests not older than two weeks should be entered.
Updates der Corona-Warn-App
The Corona-Warn-App recently had new functions. Now the risk determination works not only within Germany, but also in all other European countries as well as in the
Switzerland, Norway, Great Britain and Turkey. This creates a cross-border warning system .
Also new is that if there are multiple encounters with an increased risk, users are now shown the date on which the last encounter with an increased risk took place. As a further feature, people who have tested positive can now enter their symptoms in a kind of “symptom diary” so that the risk of infection can be calculated more precisely. With version 1.10. The “Contact Diary” was also added to the app . This new function is intended to make it easier to better understand your own contacts of the last 14 days and to be able to pass them on to the health department in the event of illness. The data is only stored on your smartphone and is automatically deleted from the app after 16 days.
Since the end of November, users of the app have also been informed more quickly about possible risky encounters. Now the data is automatically updated several times a day . According to the developer, a WLAN connection is required for regular updates.
Update: vaccination certificate and check-in function
The Corona-Warn-App is to be given additional important functions in the coming weeks in order to be able to help contain the corona pandemic. In the future, it should be possible for the results of quick tests to be entered into the app. In addition, a digital vaccination certificate should be displayed, which provides information about the vaccination protection of the user. A so-called check-in function should no longer only warn people who have been at a distance of two meters from an infected person for a longer period of time, but also those who have been in closed rooms with them at a distance – here, aerosols also spread over a greater distance.
Version 2.1: Quick Test Results
With immediate effect, users of the Corona-Warn-App can download version 2.1 . With the update, you can now also enter quick test results that are made in test centers in the app. Negative results are then visible for 48 hours, positive ones until the result is shared by the user. The website of the Corona-Warn-App states that this is to ensure that users warn others as quickly as possible.
