Businesses need to consider disabled people when deciding where to display QR codes for Covid-19 contact tracing, a Dunedin access adviser says.
Disability Information Service access adviser and educator John Marable, who has paraplegia, said he found the QR codes to be "frustrating" and not accessible for everyone.
His comments came as new University of Otago-led research showed yesterday that the pandemic had disproportionately affected some minority groups.
Disparity was magnified by the use of digital solutions that did not consider at-risk people, the research found.
Mr Marable said there was no consistency regarding where QR codes were located, and many were not in accessible places for people who used wheelchairs or other mobility devices.
"By the time I get there, get my phone out, unlock it ... then I can’t reach the QR code if it is too high. It is very frustrating."
There needed to be more tolerance and understanding, he said.
"It’s a learning curve for everyone ... It is up to us not to shoot the messenger, just educate people."
He had not seen any QR code posters with braille for blind or vision impaired people.
If businesses displayed the codes at a height of between 90cm and 120cm, and at least 50cm away from the corner of internal walls, they could be reached by someone using a mobility device.
It was also best to have them in a couple of locations at varying heights, Mr Marable said.
"I have seen [QR codes] stuck in a corner which you just cannot get your wheelchair or mobility device into to scan it.
"The same with hand gel — make sure it is on something around 70cm high so both someone standing and in a wheelchair can reach it."
Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield yesterday said businesses needed to ensure there was at least one QR code no higher than 130cm off the ground to make it accessible for wheelchair users.
It became mandatory for all businesses to display a NZ Covid Tracer QR code yesterday, and QR codes were apparent in businesses around Dunedin.
Manual registers were not obviously displayed in many stores in Dunedin yesterday, and how businesses managed them varied.
Some were at the entrance to the store, some on counters and others behind counters, for example at McDonald’s, where staff filled in the information for customers.
The Government’s Covid-19 website says businesses should have a manual contract tracing system for customers who are unable to use the NZ Covid Tracer app, but that ultimately it is people’s personal responsibility to keep track of their movements where it was not possible to use an app or manual register.
Grey Power Otago president Jo Millar, of Dunedin, said she had not been aware of many elderly people having issues with not being able to sign in for contact tracing, as most places were using both digital and manual options.
The effectiveness of digital contact tracing apps was yesterday questioned by University of Otago-led research, which found contact tracing apps could reduce the number of cases, but were not as effective in that respect as manual contact tracing.
The research concluded there was "very low certainty evidence" that contact tracing apps could make a substantial impact on the spread of Covid-19, as long as issues of low adoption, technological variation and health equity persisted.
The pandemic was disproportionately affecting ethnic minorities, the elderly and people living in high deprivation, and that could be magnified by the use of digital solutions that did not consider these at-risk populations, which were likely to have poor access to smartphones with full connectivity, the research said.
