[Goose]

FRIDAY, MAY 29: COVID-19 CASE INVESTIGATION AND CONTACT TRACING





Santa Clara County residents who receive a call from the 408 or 916 area code or with the ID “California COVID team” should answer their phones, contact tracing expansion lead Evelyn Ho and county health expert Dr. Sarah Rudman said at today’s Facebook Live briefing. Calls with those identifiers are from health agents providing information on a positive COVID-19 test result or contact with someone who received a positive result.











Rudman said people who tested positive for the coronavirus can expect to be asked how they are doing and whether they need help accessing health care. They also will be questioned about their occupation, places they visited and people they came face-to-face with while contagious. The health agent will inform them it’s imperative to stay home and direct them to resources such as grocery or medication deliveries and rent assistance.







Those exposed to COVID-19 will receive a similar call, with one additional challenge: The health agent is allowed to reveal only minimal information to protect the infected person’s privacy. For example, the person exposed may only learn the date he or she was exposed.

If there was any doubt remaining, this shows the SCC folks are not up to the task. Putting aside the questions about the telephone call actually reaching the individual who tested positive, the actions are entirely inadequate. First, it must be stated that "By order of the county health officer, you WILL quarantine at home. If you fail to do so, you can be arrested". Without teeth, many people will blow it off. Second, the person is supposed to quarantine at home, not just remain at home. That means no contact with other members of the household. Presumably the rest of the household are close contacts and must also quarantine themselves. They also should be tested if possible. SCC needs to make this happen.



We all know that separate quarantine at home for all family members will be impractical in many if not most cases. Therefore, it will often will degenerate into (at best) the family staying at home but still possibly infecting each other. In that case, the quarantine period has to restart any time a different family member gets the disease. Naturally, SCC may chose to omit these steps, as it appears they have. The consequences will be that the tracking and tracing will not be nearly as effective. Not a good decision IMHO.

[Goose]

FRIDAY, MAY 29: COVID-19 CASE INVESTIGATION AND CONTACT TRACING





Santa Clara County residents who receive a call from the 408 or 916 area code or with the ID “California COVID team” should answer their phones, contact tracing expansion lead Evelyn Ho and county health expert Dr. Sarah Rudman said at today’s Facebook Live briefing. Calls with those identifiers are from health agents providing information on a positive COVID-19 test result or contact with someone who received a positive result.











Rudman said people who tested positive for the coronavirus can expect to be asked how they are doing and whether they need help accessing health care. They also will be questioned about their occupation, places they visited and people they came face-to-face with while contagious. The health agent will inform them it’s imperative to stay home and direct them to resources such as grocery or medication deliveries and rent assistance.







Those exposed to COVID-19 will receive a similar call, with one additional challenge: The health agent is allowed to reveal only minimal information to protect the infected person’s privacy. For example, the person exposed may only learn the date he or she was exposed.

If there was any doubt remaining, this shows the SCC folks are not up to the task. Putting aside the questions about the telephone call actually reaching the individual who tested positive, the actions are entirely inadequate. First, it must be stated that "By order of the county health officer, you WILL quarantine at home. If you fail to do so, you can be arrested". Without teeth, many people will blow it off. Second, the person is supposed to quarantine at home, not just remain at home. That means no contact with other members of the household. Presumably the rest of the household are close contacts and must also quarantine themselves. They also should be tested if possible. SCC needs to make this happen.



We all know that separate quarantine at home for all family members will be impractical in many if not most cases. Therefore, it will often will degenerate into (at best) the family staying at home but still possibly infecting each other. In that case, the quarantine period has to restart any time a different family member gets the disease. Naturally, SCC may chose to omit these steps, as it appears they have. The consequences will be that the tracking and tracing will not be nearly as effective. Not a good decision IMHO.