Pa. health officials ask residents to cooperate with contact tracers

Pennsylvania health officials on Tuesday asked residents to cooperate in contact tracing efforts, as the state experiences a rise in covid-19 infections.

In a news release, the Department of Health encouraged residents to download the Covid Alert PA mobile app and participate in case investigations.

“As Pennsylvania experiences increases in cases, the demand for case investigations and contact tracing increase,” Health Secretary Rachel Levine said in a statement. “Case investigations and contact tracing are proven public health strategies to mitigate the spread of covid-19, but in order to work successfully, we need Pennsylvanians to answer the phone.”

When a person tests positive for the virus, contact tracing identifies, notifies and monitors anyone who came in close contact with the person while they were infectious. The process begins when a public health professional calls the covid-positve individual and performs a case investigation. The case investigation consists of about 30 minutes to an hour of questions, collecting information about potential close contacts.

Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, there were 6,812 cases across the state — 52% of them had case investigations within 24 hours of receiving the positive test result, officials said.

In the same period of time, 1,548 contact tracing staff members, along with local and county health entities, partner organizations and volunteers reached out to close contacts. The state has partnerships with around 150 organizations and counting, and says the contact tracing program is still expanding. Contact tracers monitored nearly 11,000 contacts identified through case investigations in the weeklong period.

“Pennsylvanians can unite against covid-19 by wearing a mask, washing hands, practicing social distancing, downloading the Covid Alert PA app and answering the call to stop this virus in its tracks before it affects your loved ones, co-workers or friends across the state,” Levine said.