A thread on #ContactTracing for #COVID19. APHA @PublicHealth says 100,000 more contact tracers needed across U.S. for state and local health departments to stop the spread. 1/n #COVIDResponseCorps thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/50/5/1…
2. @DrTomFrieden's crucial indicators for #COVID19 control:
•Proportion of new cases with known source
•Proportion isolated within three days
•Proportion of cases among people in quarantine. An indicator of successful #ContactTracing.
foxnews.com/opinion/six-mo…
•Proportion of new cases with known source
•Proportion isolated within three days
•Proportion of cases among people in quarantine. An indicator of successful #ContactTracing.
foxnews.com/opinion/six-mo…
3. #ContactTracing in #MA significantly downscaled. Multi-million dollar effort with @PIH now has ~700 staffers, down from 1,900. Complaints: computer glitches, inadequate training, poor communication. Some towns focusing on their own, in-house efforts. bostonglobe.com/2020/07/08/met…
4. #ContactTracing no longer possible across the U.S. South due to rapid #COVID19 surges. "The cases are rising so rapidly, that we cannot even do contact tracing anymore. I don't see how it's possible to even do that," @PeterHotez cnn.com/2020/07/07/hea…
5. #Miami-Dade waits on FL for #ContactTracing. Two months into efforts to safely reopen, county officials and #Florida Dept of Health @HealthyFla are still working out details of how many workers will be needed for contact tracing. #COVIDResponseCorps miamiherald.com/news/coronavir…
6. #ContactTracing Isn’t Keeping Up With America’s Reopening. More interactions create more work for contact tracing teams that have to reach more people and convince them to isolate. wsj.com/articles/conta…
7. #COVID19-Tracking Apps Proliferate, But Will They Really Help? While “some say an adoption rate as low as 10% could provide benefits. In many places where apps have been implemented so far, adoption has failed to reach even that lower threshold.” khn.org/news/covid-tra…
8. As countries race to deploy #COVID19-tracking software, researchers are reporting privacy and security risks that could affect millions of people and undermine trust in public health efforts. nytimes.com/2020/07/08/tec…
9. A 3-question test on potential of #ContactTracing apps: 1) Does government have citizens’ trust? 2) Are citizens willing to “pay” for improved health outcomes w/ loss of privacy? 3) Are there events in the nation’s history that help shift the balance? theconversation.com/digital-contac…
10. #COVID19 test results in #Arizona are taking weeks. That makes it harder to control the spread. “Counties don’t know until much later who the positive cases are, hindering effective #ContactTracing and case investigations.” azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
11. Washtenaw Co. [#Michigan] health officials worried about complexities of #COVID19 #ContactTracing. “As the cases go up and that complexity goes up, the level of effort required to contact everyone just grows exponentially.” mlive.com/news/ann-arbor…
12. U.S. #ContactTracing efforts on #COVID19 falter on privacy worries, technology gap. Efforts to use GPS-based contact tracing apps in states such as #Utah and #NorthDakota faltered after residents raised a number of concerns. marketwatch.com/story/us-contr…
13. To conduct #ContactTracing, #SouthKorea used multiple forms of advanced information technology: location data from phones, credit card payment history, GPS data, drug utilization review, public transportation transit pass records, and CCTV footage. wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26…
14. #ContactTracing can be used successfully in the U.S.: Contact Tracing for #NativeAmericans in Rural #Arizona [letter] nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NE…
15. Challenging times as #COVID19 cases surge and most states have not built the recommended capacity for #ContactTracing. However, if we had the recommended 100,000 contact tracers, most counties would be able to manage their current case load.
16. With 15 #ContactTracers per 100,000 pop., a county could manage up to 6 daily #COVID19 cases per 100,000. ~1,600 (53%) of ~3,000 U.S. counties have <=6.0 cases per 100,000. Even if not feasible for all cases now, we should be building capacity for eventual outbreak control.
17. #ContactTracing will be critical to the #COVID19 end game. At Alert Level 1 (Green): Cases will be rare and contact tracing will be the key intervention to control the virus. preventepidemics.org/covid19/resour…
18. #ContactTracing is a critical intervention to control #COVID19 and reopen society and the economy, yet so far we have failed to implement successfully. Why not a national #COVIDResponseCorps?
Correction: 30 contact tracers per 100,000.
