The spread of coronavirus is too fast, Ga. Tracer can’t catch up

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“It’s more than epidemiological activity, this is a logistical development,” Toumey said Thursday.

Officials also need to build civilian support, often distrust of the government and less likely to accept the more invasive forms of surveillance that have been deployed with some success in Southeast Asia.

According to experts, large-scale efforts will not succeed without a strong diagnostic test system. Georgia was ranked 30th nationally on a per-capita test as of Tuesday, ranking 45th a few weeks ago with an improvement from 33rd last week, according to an AJC analysis of national test figures.

“Contact tracking may be a major pillar of public health and infectious disease control, but testing is fundamental,” said former public health official Kastroch.

Trace limit

In the Waycross case, Pastor Hooper said the deceased woman was a visitor at two services. He said more than half a dozen people from his congregation later became ill with the coronavirus. Some were hospitalized and a 62-year-old church member died on April 8th.

“It was very devastating for us,” Hooper said. “She was a dedicated guide and could not provide her with the service we wanted. We needed a graveyard.”

An epidemiologist based in the state’s Waycross did not elaborate on the case in an interview with AJC last month. The public services announcement was one of four announced by the Southeast Health District at the end of March on Baptist churches in Ware, Pierce, and Coffee counties.

“Contact tracking was difficult and impossible,” said Trevor Thomas, a health district infectious disease coordinator. “Henceforth, historically, in these cases it was to give bigger notices to the larger groups who attended the event.”

Two months ago, the worst scenario happened in Albany, where a sick guest had a funeral Super spreader eventTriggered Outbreak of Hundreds of People in Southwest Georgia. In a March 26 interview, the district health director said the virus had spread before, and his office no longer tried to trace its origin, but stopped its entry into hospitals and nursing homes.

“At this point, it’s not a wise way to spend resources looking back at what happened,” said Charles Lewis, Southwest Health District Director.

Georgia has been around for decades Contact trace Limit the transmission of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, measles and HIV. Before the pandemic arrived, the staff had about 250 tracers.

In the case of coronavirus, CDC is now Recommended The tracer will contact anyone within 6 feet of the infected person for at least 15 minutes 48 hours before onset. The people are orphaned and if they test positive, the process is repeated for their contacts.

Not only does it take a lot of work, but it also requires personal attention in a very tight timeline. Tracers need to quickly build trust with their contacts so they can share personal health information and be prepared to quarantine for two weeks to stop the spread of the virus.

Building trust can be difficult, especially for people who are distrustful of public authorities or vulnerable who are likely to have pre-existing conditions.

“They may not have access to health care, or they may not have the basics of transportation to get to the test site,” said Grace Bagwell Adams, associate professor of health policy at the University of Georgia. Said.

Traditionally, contact tracers have had the time to track people and provide resources to help them be tested and quarantined. This includes food, transportation, shelter and even money to make up for lost wages. Most coronavirus work will be completed via the phone or a new online platform, taking into account social distance guidelines and the need for speed.

In some respects, contact-tracking veterans say outreach to coronavirus may be easier than HIV or AIDS, as tracers do not have to break open a person’s sexual history or drug use. .. Coronaviruses, on the other hand, are more likely to spread and infectious people may not show symptoms.

Some experts have questioned whether going back two days is enough, as the CDC recommends. Ideally, follow-up should go back a week, says Colin Smith, an associate professor in the Department of Public Health at Georgia State University.

“But that may be a manageability issue,” Smith said. “Do you know what you had for breakfast 6 days ago?”

Even when facing the precursors of the disaster in Vidalia, the state seems to stick to its official. The first person to be infected with the coronavirus in March was longtime Mayor Ronnie Dixon.

Three days before checking in to the hospital, the mayor stopped by the city hall to check the mail and told the city clerk that he was feeling unwell. Thirteen days ago, he chaired the city council and was attended by about 40 spectators, including 14 other city officials and police officers, firefighters, and other city officials.

Dixon, 77, died on April 1. None of the town halls have been contacted by state epidemiologists, only the mayor’s widow was placed in quarantine, city and county officials told AJC.

“We were all worried that it might have been contracted by staff and anyone who had apparently contacted him,” Mayor Nick Overstreet said. “So far, fortunately there have been no employees of COVID-19.”

Georgia jobs

While DPH firmly held the details of its expanded contact tracking program, Toomey said it plans to hire at least 600 additional staff and over 200 students over the next few weeks. Said. DPH recently posted jobs in full-time and part-time positions for $ 15 per hour — Toomey said 1,000 people applied — Contact a state medical school or public health school to recruit student interns.

Associate Professor Adams said increased interest in the Department of Public Health at the University of Georgia helped stimulate the next summer course on coronavirus contact tracking. Last week, a student-led contact tracking webinar at the Georgia Medical College at Augusta University drew around 180 participants.

“This is a way to help the medical community, our mentors, and other doctors as much as possible,” said Katherine Waldron, a graduate of the University of Mercer School of Medicine who helped Webinar lead the way. Waldron signed on as a volunteer contact tracer in the coastal health district of the state of Savannah in March after the hospital rotation was canceled.

The district has two teams of tracers. The first consists of epidemiologists and is responsible for contacting and interviewing anyone who tests positive for COVID-19.

Students such as Waldron and Rebecca De Carlo are fourth-year medical students at Georgia Medical School and one of the second students.

The team puts information about individual symptoms into a database called SendSS or State Electronic Notifiable Disease Surveillance System. If symptoms occur, DeCarlo and her team can update the portal, alert your doctor, ask people to have an examination, and isolate yourself and other members of your family.

“If you get in touch as soon as you have symptoms, you can quarantine them and stop the infection,” DeCarlo said.

Test solution

State public health districts have begun, including Savannah and Metro Atlanta Testing a new monitoring application for MTX last week. It works with SendSS and Google Cloud to allow people during contact tracing to record everyday symptoms on their smartphones.

The state signed a contract with MTX in early April. Headquartered in Texas and New York, the company has created similar monitoring and tracking platforms in over 12 other states over the past two months.

“Everyone wants to know how fast the solution can move, so we’re planning a resumption,” said CEO Das Nobel.

Some privacy advocates were gathered by contact tracking software, especially another app developed jointly by Apple and Google and using Bluetooth to alert people who have close contact with their infected cell phone. Have expressed concern about the rules governing health data.

The MTX platform does not use Bluetooth. The company also does not have access to Georgian personal health data, Nobel said.

DPH will focus on the details of the pilot program, or whether the current tracers have enough bandwidth to focus on all cases, or just the high-risk ones such as first responders and senior center people. I’m not talking about whether or not you are hitting.

Some experts say contact tracking is not a panacea and states should have started such efforts sooner.

Dr. Harry J. Hayman, a professor at GSU Public Health School, said: “It’s amazing to me that we are in the early stages of deployment when we started a week and a half ago.

Others say any effort will help.

“We have to start somewhere,” said Nannet C. Turner, professor and professor of public health at Mercer’s Health College of Health Professionals.