COVID-19: missing UK info
Dr W Kuan Hon
Of Counsel, Dentons; Member, UK International Data Transfer Expert Council; Editor, Encyclopedia of Data Protection & Privacy All views personal only.
The main UK government COVID-19 webpage omits important info that should be there or linked to from there - not buried in further guidance elsewhere that people can't see easily but have to keep trawling to find.
What's a "long-term condition"?
You're more at risk than others and should take more care if you have a "long-term condition" - but what on earth does that mean?
At least that webpage now refers to pregnancy and weakened immune system (it didn't just a couple of days ago).
What it should really do (but doesn't, at the time of my writing this article) is link from "long-term" to this longer webpage, which lists some specific risky health conditions like asthma, chronic kidney disease and sickle cell disease. But some of those aren't even necessarily "long-term".
What about walks for exercise?
The social distancing page says "You can also go for a walk outdoors if you stay more than 2 metres from others". That "keep 2 metres / 6 feet away" information should surely be on the main webpage. Boris Johnson's statement yesterday said "if possible you should not go out even to buy food or essentials, other than for exercise, and in that case at a safe distance from others", but without mentioning the 2m point - yet how would non-medical experts like most people know what distance is "safe", without that specific information being given?
I'm no medical doctor so I don't know how good the UK government advice is, but it is the official advice, so certain information as above should surely be made a lot more clear, visible and obvious to people generally than it currently is. (And daily press conferences are much better than selective leaks, but please please please also put the same info on easily-accessible gov.uk webpages at the same time or immediately afterwards too, not just the next day, particularly as people need timely information and the UK government is urging us to go online rather than call for info / assistance.)
What about GDPR?
Of course, I rarely post without mentioning GDPR - well you can do no better than to read my colleague Amy Lambert's blog post on coronavirus, employee information and GDPR compliance, and the EDPB statement including on location data (plus ICO guidance).
Keep well and safe, everyone!