Alameda and Contra Costa counties are assembling teams of “contact tracing” workers to help identify people who’ve come in contact with confirmed novel coronavirus patients in a growing effort to stop the virus’ spread, health officials said this week.
“We know this is going to be a big part of our future,” said Kimi Watkins-Tartt, Alameda County’s director of public health, at a telephone town hall panel discussion Tuesday led by state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda.
His district includes much of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have come into contact with an infected person, and learning more about those contacts. The goal is to test those contacts for novel coronavirus infection,
and treat and isolate them if necessary, thus helping stem the virus’ spread.
Watkins-Tartt said Alameda County health officials have a team of about 20 people in place to do contact tracing, but that she believes a team of 100 or more tracers is needed to have a truly effective program. It’s a
labor-intensive job, with an initial phone call expected to lead to several more.
Dr. Ori Tzvieli, deputy public health officer for Contra Costa County, said health officials there are working hard to build a “small army of disease investigators.”
Contact tracing will become more important, Tzvieli and Watkins-Tartt said, because it’s clear that coronavirus testing has been inconsistent at best, and that it’s assumed many more people harbor the virus than have been confirmed.
For every known positive-testing patient, Tzvieli said, there are probably 20 to 30 others going untested. With Contra Costa County reporting 749 confirmed cases Wednesday morning, he said, the numbers can mount
quickly.
“It’s probably in the tens of thousands who potentially have the virus” in Contra Costa County, Tzvieli said.
Without testing everyone, Allday said, there’s no real way to know how many people out there have the virus, especially since anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of virus carriers don’t show symptoms.
But she and the others on the panel said that even more testing of those who do show symptoms would significantly slow the spread of the virus. And testing of the most vulnerable populations remains a priority.
The elderly, first responders and doctors are particularly vulnerable, as are large groups living in close quarters and people in generally poor health. A combination of those criteria make senior care centers a particular testing priority.
With tests still in short supply, targeting those groups, and others identified through contact tracing, will make the best use of the tests available, Watkins-Tartt said.
20 comments
Last I heard, you cannot stop the spread. You might delay it, but the majority of people will eventually get it. If this is true, what’s the point of “contact tracing” other than to flatten the curve? The article says they are using contact tracing to prevent the spread. That makes no sense.
Silly me to assume they were already doing this!
Come on! Man…
Um… they are. The original article here is titled “‘Contact tracing’ Efforts Growing…” The need for increased (growing) contact tracing and testing is needed to prepare for loosening the shelter-at-home. The planning and preparations underway now for increased capacity is what lets us loosen the shelter-at-home without getting a huge spike in infections (hopefully, no guarantees).
Singaporeans are masters of contact tracing and even they have lost control of this virus. I have little confidence that we can come anywhere near what they are able to do. Mainly because we are a free society.
More American’s rights are being trampled on in the name of a Health Emergency by county employees.
How is all of this going to be paid for?
Where is anyone’s right to privacy?
Where is the freedom of choice?
Where is the compliance to HIPPA?
Federal laws mean nothing in CA.
Am I overreacting? You bet I am.
Once freedoms are gone, they never return.
It’s just like a temporary tax.
Yep, but the sheep will just scream and call us crazy Trump supporters or stupid Republicans even if we’re neither.
The writing is on the wall.
Here are some answers to your questions:
How is all of this going to be paid for?
A: Taxes.
Where is the freedom of choice?
A: The right to swing your fist around stops at my face. Similarly, you do not have a right to spread a potentially fatal contagious disease to other people.
Where is anyone’s right to privacy? Where is the compliance to HIPPA?
A: Privacy, and HIPAA are being complied with – hence the need to train the people doing the contact tracing. A big part of the training is HIPAA compliance.
Am I overreacting? You bet I am.
A: You answered this one yourself:^
Once freedoms are gone, they never return.
A: Except for all the times that they did: Emancipation proclamation; women’s suffrage; Civil right’s movement; HAVA; airplanes did fly again after being grounded on 9/11, etc.
I know my coworker tested positive for coronavirus but I didn’t get contacted by anyone yet. How are they doing the contacting and who is doing it?
You are to self isolate and call your own doctor.
What happens if you don’t want to get tested? That little army of government tracers better have a court order if they want to test me. 4th amendment unreasonable search and seizure.
Where is the proof that it is the Trump supporters or the Republicans making and enforcing these mandatory “social distancing” orders???
Thank you, Rosebud.
That made my day.
They won’t get away with this.
Civil unrest is here.
Many Americans have revolutionary blood running through our veins.
We won our freedom against the most powerful military in the world.
We won’t be traced, tracked and vaccinated.
Stanford University Medical Research Center found that this Covid thing has the same mortality as the the seasonal flu.
Listen to science you fools.
Science says that Covid-19 is a big deal. Even if it did have the same mortality rate as the flu there is still: (1) It is novel meaning nobody already has pre-existing immunity, unlike the flu, meaning Covid-19 has a much larger vulnerable population size/density and will therefore be more contagious and cause more deaths; (2) even if mortality rates are similar (which is disputed) the Covid-19 virus still causes hospitalizations, liver damage, etc. Mortality isn’t the only factor to consider. (3) 45,000 deaths and rising is more than the annual flu (CDC estimates flu deaths for 2018-2019 were 34,200).
So yes, listen to science.
@Xennial
You make some good points in your responses, but how do you address that some scientist seem to think that this is not a big deal. Some are saying that a vaccine is 18-24 months away, so is your expectation of the general public? Stay at home, homeschool etc till then?
Mortality rates, what they are or are not, as you said are debatable. Are you as concerned with the cardiac death rate (840K 2019 US Deaths), obesity death rate (300K in 2019 U.S.) and other mostly preventable deaths? Why do you think we are not taking actions to prevent those by regulating the food we can eat or require everyone to exercise regularly. I see the mask as a way to prevent this disease … but exercise and food intake could prevent other cardiac and obesity.
You are correct on the other factors, but have you considered that some of these may also be the result of pre-existing conditions?
And lastly, why not this level of ‘response’ during SARS or MERS which was also very contagious? Do you think the media and access to information has anything to do with how leaders are responding to this?
Except for the science and facts that came out of USC yesterday that says you 100% wrong about immunity.
@parent
I am aware of no scientists/health experts that are saying this is not a big deal. Can you cite your source?
I agree a wide-spread vaccine is 18-24 months away if not longer. However, nobody is saying we have to stay at home that entire time. They are saying we need a little time to prepare – Kaiser is rapidly building a new lab for testing, contact tracers are being hired, from studies we are learning more about the virus.
Why are cardiac and obesity related death different? They aren’t contagious. If you eat poorly or lack exercise it doesn’t affect somebody else. I also note there are many wellness programs and government supported messaging which does encourage exercise, so it is not like exercise is being ignored.
SARS and MERS did not cause 45,000+ deaths in less than 6 months. They weren’t even close to this.
@Sam
A single report is not a scientific consensus. If you are referring to the antibody study from USC that study says nothing about immunity even if you might think it does. If it is some other study then I would be happy to take a look at it if you could provide a link.
I work as a paramedic so I am going to guess that I have.
How about a test for us first responders?
You have entered into the ~TWILIGHT ZONE~
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