NORTH CAROLINA, USA — North Carolina is ramping up efforts to trace those who might have been exposed to the coronavirus by hiring more contact tracers.
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen announced the formation of the Carolina Community Tracing Collaborative.
She said it's a new partnership between Community Care North Carolina and North Carolina Area Health Education Center to expand contact tracing.
Local health departments will continue to execute the leg work for contact tracing.
Dr. Cohen said the new collaborative will hire and train staff for local health departments. The collaborative is looking to hire 250 more contact tracers, which would double the current staff number to 500.
Contact tracing is the process of figuring out where someone infected with COVID-19 has been, who they've come in contact with, and notifying those who may have been exposed.
Rockingham County is one of the counties that's been practicing contact tracing from the beginning.
"This is not a new process," said Rockingham County Communicable Disease Coordinator Wendy Trodgon, "Historically, public health has been doing this for many many years with other different types of communicable diseases such as TB, measles, pertussis things of that nature."
Trogdon said they ask those who are infected questions about where they work and recent travel.
"We’re looking 14 days back to see how many people have been in contact with and we go 14 days back then we add 48 hours to that, the onset of their symptoms," said Trogdon.
Trogdon said some of the questioning has lead to identifying other positive cases.
"We had a positive, got the individual’s information and were able to identify two other positives from that," said Trogdon.
Trogdon said there are parameters when it comes to the kind of contact you have with someone - and whether or not that's someone the health department might need to follow up with.
"The parameter is, for close contact, is within 6 feet for at least 10 minutes. So we go through that, we talk to them because some contacts may not be, they think they just walked by someone, that’s not contact," said Trogdon.
Dr. Cohen said this helps the state understand the spread of the coronavirus and quickly identify those who might be infected.
The process of hiring more contact tracers will start today, according to Cohen.
Forsyth County Department of Public Health has never stopped contact tracing. Our nurses have continued to conduct contact tracing even though the State stopped requiring it.
Dr. Cohen said special consideration will go to those who are unemployed, have community engagement experience, and live in the communities they serve.
If you're interested in applying, go to Community Care of North Carolina's website.
Trogdon said Rockingham County is able to handle the volume of cases they have right now for contact tracing, and they have plans if that case count grows.
"People from environmental health, preparedness, clinic. We can get individuals from there and they can call and talk to these individuals and make sure they’re not symptomatic, make sure they’re staying home and they know everything that they need to do. If we get too overwhelmed at that point then we can call in our school nurses from the county. And at that point, if we are unable to handle contact tracings we will ask the state for assistance," said Trogdon.
Cohen said the state did a survey of local health departments, which revealed 70 percent are able to handle the current workload of contact tracing.
Cohen said the goal is to hire 250 contact tracers by the end of May.
The state will continue to adjust, according to Dr. Cohen, and if more workers are needed if hotspots pop up, that will be addressed down the road.