When a positive case of COVID-19 is confirmed in Montgomery County, the local health department picks up the phone.
Starting with the infected person, the search begins for family members, co-workers and anyone else who may have been in close contact, a process known as contact tracing. Experts say the process is necessary to curb outbreaks.
“Contact tracing isn’t new. We’ve done it with communicable disease, whatever it may be,” said Amber Reed, administrator for the Montgomery County Health Department.
The workload jumped Thursday as the county reported 16 new positive tests of COVID-19, bringing the total to 75 confirmed cases. Expanded testing may account for some of the increase in numbers, the health department said.
In order to identify everyone possibly exposed to the virus, new patients are asked about their direct contacts. The health department wants to know how many other people live in the home, whether the patient is employed and when they last went to work.
Employers help determine who had the closest contact with the patient during the period of exposure, usually in the past two weeks. The health department notifies only the co-workers who’ve had direct contact with the patient. The patient’s name is not disclosed.
As the number of cases increases, four school nurses have been trained to assist the department in making the contacts.
Following Wednesday’s announcement that the state will begin outsourcing contact tracing in May, Reed said the goal is to reduce the workload on individual health departments. But she said there is some comfort in receiving a call from someone locally.
“In some ways, it might be very helpful, in other ways — because we’ve always done our own contact tracing — we’re not sure how the information flow is going to work,” Reed said.
The county has been in contact with the state to determine the new process for tracing cases, especially when someone who’s been close to a newly-diagnosed patient calls the local health department directly.
“We want to be able to provide the service that is necessary for residents, so hopefully the information will be fluid enough so we can maintain that,” Reed said.
