US starts tracking in old fashioned way, but “slow”

Issuing: April 22, 2020-03: 24Change: April 22, 2020-03: 23

Washington (AFP)

Taiwan and South Korea have been world leaders in digital contact traces for the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, if the United States focuses on personal privacy and the system of decentralized government, it is unlikely to follow suit.

Instead, states and cities are opting to hire thousands of public health workers who have to do the tedious task of calling everyone in confirmed cases.

Next, I would like to know everyone who has been in close contact with the patient for more than 15 minutes and less than 6 feet (2 meters). These people are then summoned and called for self-isolation.

It’s a daunting task to complement the recently announced opt-in cell phone-based contact tracking from Apple and Google. Investigators who do not require medical training work at home using computer software and each call takes at least 30 minutes.

Massachusetts announced that it will launch its first program in early April to recruit 1,000 contact tracers (17,000 applied). San Francisco has announced similar initiatives, with other states and jurisdictions set up.

“It’s slow,” said Dr. Joia Mukherjee, Chief Medical Officer of Partners in Health, a nonprofit organization chosen by Massachusetts to manage the program. “It would have been easier to do that after the first case.”

But she said she could still catch up. “Every epidemic is very localized. Looking at the top row numbers, everyone is horrifying. But it’s by town, by block, and by city.”

“If you could do that in a place like Liberia, why didn’t you do it in Massachusetts?” Added Mukherjee.

In Africa and other parts of the world, this type of work is considered one of the founding principles of public health.

But Mukherjee said, “For 40 years, the United States has invested in public health and community health, favoring hospitals and things that generate revenue.”

-100,000 agents-

In Wuhan, a 1,800 team of five people often did this work voluntarily. Expanding to an outbreak in the United States means that 265,000 will be needed.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University proposed 100,000 people, starting with “supporting the unprecedented task of contact investigation and containment at this scale.”

Currently, there are at most 5,000 experts in the country responsible for monitoring infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis, state and local health officials (ASTHO) Prime Minister Michael Fraser told AFP.

He does not expect hiring to start two to four weeks ago in most states.

“Our goal is to prepare this for resumption,” he said.

It was Monday that the White House announced, through Vice President Mike Pence, a dispatch of reinforcements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the states.

In an email to AFP, the CDC said it has 24 teams in each state, with more than 600 staff nationwide.

However, states like Texas plan to begin relaxing lockdown orders and reopening some stores and businesses over the next few days.

ASTHO estimates that at least 8,000 contact tracers will be needed in the state of Lone Star, where nearly 30 million people live.

Fraser warned, “There will definitely be some risks” associated with lifting socially distant orders without implementing appropriate surveillance mechanisms.

That is not to say that we do not need to strengthen contact tracking as social activity resumes.

If you do not have enough personnel, you should prioritize high-risk groups such as nursing homes, hospitals, and vulnerable groups.

When a call came in Massachusetts, the state reached an agreement with the carrier to display “Covid Care Team” in the phone number, trying to maximize the number of people to pick up.

© 2020 AFP