The process of contact tracing locally has changed since the first cases of COVID-19 reached Owensboro. With limited resources, contact tracers have had to streamline their process — including only contacting people who test positive and longer times between follow-up calls — in order to keep up with community spread.
Contact tracers with the Green River District Health Department began streamlining the process in November, when the numbers of COVID-positive residents began to escalate across the seven counties the GRDHD serves.
Since then, contact tracers have only been reaching out to those who test positive for the virus, providing information and materials for them to pass along to anyone they consider a “high-risk contact.”
According to GRDHD Director Clay Horton, high-risk contacts could include family members, friends, co-workers or anyone who was within six feet or less of the infected individual for 15 minutes or more.
“If we hear of a high-risk situation or a big outbreak, we’ll follow up with that school or an employer,” Horton said. “We’ll prioritize those cases and let our disease investigators follow up. They report those cases to the state health department.”
Several large outbreaks have occurred across Daviess County, Horton said, using an outbreak at the Daviess County Detention Center as an example.
Horton also said various “clusters” — a report of five or more infections stemming from one area — of COVID-19 have been investigated across Daviess County, including one that took place at Owensboro Regional Recovery.
As for contact tracing, Horton said the GRDHD continues to contact every person who tests positive for COVID-19. The difference now is tracers do not reach out to every high-risk contact.
Horton said he believes that method of has been effective. Oftentimes those high-risk contacts will reach out to the health department with a number of questions and concerns of their own.
According to Horton, that follow-up shows him that most COVID-positive patients are doing well in contacting those they’ve been around.
“We’re trying to get good data and educate people on the steps to protecting themselves and others,” he said. “With lower rates, contact tracing is more effective. We have a better chance of isolating cases and keeping them from spreading.”
Another difference between the beginning of the pandemic and now, Horton said, is that most people know how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For example, when a family member receives a positive test, the rest of the family who resides in the house knows they should quarantine and get tested.
“They shouldn’t have to be contacted by the health department to know that now,” he continued. “Generally, if a family member you’ve been in close contact with tests positive, you should quarantine. That’s a no-brainer.”
In the beginning, health departments strived to contact a COVID-positive patient every day. At the Green River, they now follow up every five days with a phone call.
While GRDHD has received a number of complaints regarding fewer and later-than-expected calls from contact tracers, Horton said it all comes down to a healthcare system that’s simply stretched too thin.
And Daviess County is not the only place where contact tracing has changed, he noted. Health care systems all across the U.S. are facing the struggle of tracking a high number of COVID-19 cases with limited resources.
“The whole system is strained,” he said, “not just our health department.”
