Virus contact tracing to be limited

Effective yesterday, the coalfield-region public health districts will not attempt to do contact tracing on all COVID-19 positive cases and close contacts.

The LENOWISCO and Cumberland Plateau health districts announced Tuesday that they will begin to set new priorities.

“Prioritizing enables the health department to focus available resources on investigations that are most likely to slow the spread of COVID-19,” according to a press release.
“It is nearly impossible and much less effective to try to reach every case and trace every one of their contacts in this time of substantial levels of transmission,” said Dr. Eleanor Sue Cantrell, director of the health districts. “We have increased the number of staff working on case investigations and contact tracing, but transmission is too widespread for traditional methods to be effective or even possible at this time.”

The greatest opportunity to prevent transmission is among those testing positive whose specimens were collected in the past four to six days, and those who were exposed to a COVID-positive person in the past six days, the release notes.

Not all cases and not all close contacts will be contacted by health officials. People who develop symptoms should get tested early, self-isolate and advise those with whom they have been in contact to quarantine.

To protect others, follow these public health recommendations:

• Self-isolate when you are sick or while waiting for test results.

• If you test positive, inform your close contacts they may have been exposed.

QUARANTINE

The state health department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to recommend a quarantine period of 14 days following close contact with a COVID-positive person.

CDC guidance now includes two additional shortened options for the length of quarantine. Any quarantine shorter than 14 days balances reduced burden (e.g., physical, mental, economic) against a small possibility of increasing the spread of the virus.

For people without symptoms, quarantine can end after day 10, without testing (counting the date of last exposure as day zero), or after day seven, if a viral test (PCR or antigen test) on or after day five is negative. After ending quarantine, continue to watch for symptoms until 14 days after exposure and continue to follow precautions including wearing a mask, socially distancing of at least six feet and washing your hands. If symptoms develop, get tested and isolate immediately.

The health department recommends that healthcare personnel and residents and staff in healthcare facilities continue to follow a 14-day quarantine.

Everyone is encouraged to continue to follow steps to protect yourself and those around you:

• Wear a mask.

• Watch your distance.

• Wash your hands.

• Avoid gatherings with those outside of your household. It is safest to stay home whenever possible during times of high levels of COVID-19 community transmission.

TO LEARN MORE

For more information on how to notify close contacts and calculate dates of release from isolation and quarantine, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/lenowisco/ and go to the links under “COVID 19 Surge Resources.”