Among the critical indicators used to determine the health of San Bernardino County and the continuing reopening of businesses is testing and contact tracing. Contact tracing has been used for centuries in public health. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains what contact tracing is and why it’s so important in controlling the spread of disease…
Contact tracing involves public health staff calling infected patients and helping them recall everyone with whom they were in close contact during the period when they were likely infectious. The staff then quickly notifies those individuals (contacts) of their potential exposure and advises them on steps they should take to protect themselves and others. Since these contacted individuals may have been infected (symptoms typically don’t appear for five to six days and sometimes as long as 14 days after exposure), they are asked to “self-quarantine” and minimize their exposure to others. For example, they are encouraged to call in sick if they are still working outside their homes. These potentially infected individuals then receive a daily, automated text message asking if they have exhibited any of the symptoms common to coronavirus infection. Individuals who don’t show symptoms are monitored for 14 days after the last known exposure, after which they can exit quarantine.
Self-Isolation for Those with Symptoms
However, if the individual has experienced such symptoms, the public health representative then asks them to “self-isolate,” that is, remain at home and strictly minimize contact with others — even those within their own households. Those asked to self-isolate are given guidelines to help them in this effort, and asked whether they require additional assistance. They also are provided the phone number of a nursing hotline they can call for further clinical guidance.
“People trying to self-isolate face a variety of challenges, and the county tries to do everything we can to help them overcome them,” said Diana Ibrahim, the Communicable Disease Controller in the County Department of Public Health. “That often includes referring them to support services that can assist them with such things as procuring food, preparing meals, doing laundry, or taking care of children or older people.”
Training Contact Tracers
Ibrahim noted that staffers responsible for contacting potentially infected individuals are extensively trained to ensure their ability to gather critical information while communicating with appropriate sensitivity and discretion. The county now has nearly 400 trained staff members that can be activated when a resident tests positive for COVID-19.
“We expect an increase in positive cases as people emerge from stay-at-home directives, and we are expanding our capabilities in preparation for a potential surge as high as 300%,” she said. “There’s a good chance we won’t experience such growth in infections, but we’re taking a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach.”
