NORFOLK, Va. — Author's note: the above video is from December 4, 2020.
Monday afternoon, as coronavirus cases continued to rise in the commonwealth, the Virginia Department of Health announced its new efforts to prioritize exposure contact tracing for certain groups of people.
The department's release said they would be zeroing in on people who were exposed recently, who were possibly involved in a cluster outbreak, who live in congregate living facilities or who were at increased risk of severe illness. The website said this was in response to "substantial levels of COVID-19 community transmission."
It's a shift from the department trying to call everyone who was possibly exposed to the virus.
"This means that some local health departments, as necessary, may not be contacting everyone with COVID-19 infection or close contacts to someone with COVID-19 infection," they wrote.
Virginia has hired almost 2,000 COVID-19 contact tracers since the outbreak reached the state in March.
In the explanation, Dr. Norman Oliver, the Virginia state health commissioner, said this new prioritization would help the department use its resources strategically.
"We urge residents to continue to follow public health guidance on wearing masks and physical distancing, and to notify their circle of friends and family quickly if diagnosed with COVID-19," he wrote. "Also, please answer the phone if a VDH Contact Tracer calls."
VDH also described some updated CDC guidelines for self-isolating if a person has been exposed to the virus. Here's a summary:
- Healthcare personnel and people who enter healthcare facilities should continue to use a 14-day quarantine.
- It's still safest for everyone to quarantine for 14 days after any possible exposure to the virus.
- People who have been exposed, but have not shown symptoms, can end quarantining after 10 days without being tested (and continue to watch for symptoms for the next four days).
- People who have been exposed, but have not shown symptoms, can end quarantining after seven days if they are tested after the fifth day, and the results come back negative.