[Goose]

One of the tenets of contact tracing is that the system is trying to reduce both the number of infectious persons and the number of days they are infectious and out in the public.


Part of that is how quickly tests get back to the patient, and then to the contact tracing organization (usually the county).

It could be argued that people waiting for their test result won't/shouldn't be out in public anway. The problem is that contact tracing isn't going to start until the positive test is returned. If the delay is less than the incubation period, it won't matter on "forward" traces, i.e. people who were exposed via the person being tested. It will matter on "backward" traces, i.e. the person who gave the virus to the person being tested. The "index case" will still be out there infecting people during this delay, especially is he/she is  asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic. It should be true that if one gives a sample on day N, the result is available by end of day N + 1. It appears that isn't happening. The reasons for any delays need to be examined. It isn't testing capacity. It probably is logistical, and those problems can and should be solved.

And, by the way, SCC's "Unknown cause" percentage is increasing while the "Contact to a known case" is decreasing (through July 7 update).

Triple OUCH! The number of contact tracers should be increasing, yet the results are getting worse, not better.

[Goose]

One of the tenets of contact tracing is that the system is trying to reduce both the number of infectious persons and the number of days they are infectious and out in the public.


Part of that is how quickly tests get back to the patient, and then to the contact tracing organization (usually the county).

It could be argued that people waiting for their test result won't/shouldn't be out in public anway. The problem is that contact tracing isn't going to start until the positive test is returned. If the delay is less than the incubation period, it won't matter on "forward" traces, i.e. people who were exposed via the person being tested. It will matter on "backward" traces, i.e. the person who gave the virus to the person being tested. The "index case" will still be out there infecting people during this delay, especially is he/she is  asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic. It should be true that if one gives a sample on day N, the result is available by end of day N + 1. It appears that isn't happening. The reasons for any delays need to be examined. It isn't testing capacity. It probably is logistical, and those problems can and should be solved.

And, by the way, SCC's "Unknown cause" percentage is increasing while the "Contact to a known case" is decreasing (through July 7 update).

Triple OUCH! The number of contact tracers should be increasing, yet the results are getting worse, not better.