CONTACT TRACING
As Connecticut works to reopen its economy, you will undoubtedly hear the term “contact tracing” used in the near future. But what is contact tracing?
It’s an important part of the response to any pandemic. Because COVID-19 is an extremely infectious disease, it is important to determine possible transmission vectors; in other words, times and places where people can spread infections; as quickly and as directly as possible.
In coming weeks, statewide teams will interview individuals recently confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 and ask them about their recent travels and who they may have come in contact with in recent weeks. That information is vitally important, as it will allow the infected individual and the team of tracers to work backward, contacting people who may have come in contact with COVID and asking them to self-quarantine or to seek treatment if necessary. People who are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic will be able to isolate themselves, reducing the number of people they can infect in turn. This is a key approach to slowing COVID transmissions and ensuring the virus does not run rampant, cutting off potential infestations or infection clusters before they can make the virus’s spread worse.
Why Is Testing Key To Reopening?
In past weeks, you’ve likely heard that testing for COVID-19 is a key step to be able to reopen Connecticut. There are several reasons for that, and while testing, along with social distancing and contact tracing, is just one part of a greater puzzle in fighting COVID-19, it is a significant advantage to have. Widespread testing has the following benefits:
- With increased testing, it’s not just that anyone who thinks they’re sick can confirm or rule out that they have COVID – they will know and can inform friends and family, coworkers and anyone else they’ve come into contact with.Health care workers can know if they are infectious; widespread testing capacity can confirm or rule out hot zones as they begin to happen, allowing responders an opportunity to focus efforts in specific regions of the state.
- Testing moves away from troubled areas. Today, in states like Ohio, up to 40 percent of all recognized infected individuals work in health care or are prisoners; that focus on specific areas removes testing capacity from the general population. It’s important to know our health care workers are ill or sick, but it’s just as important to know everyone who thinks they’re ill can confirm or deny that.
- Testing would also allow for targeted testing in troubled areas, like nursing homes. Hotspot locations like nursing homes, with many at-risk residents and workers, can see the entire population tested in a single day with ramped-up testing. That means the results can come back and plans can move forward to save as many lives as possible through medical intervention. Responses can accelerate in ways that protect members of the community.
Increased testing is not a one-size-fits-all tool to prevent COVID, but it’s one of several in a toolbox leaders can use to slow and stem its spread. In coming weeks, we hope testing capacity continues to grow in our state and beyond.
