RICHMOND, Va. — In the face of surging coronavirus numbers, contact tracers in Virginia can no longer call everyone who may have been exposed to the virus.
As part of new guidelines rolled out by the Health Department, contact tracers will prioritize which cases to trace, according to epidemiologist program manager and co-lead of the health department’s COVID-19 Containment Unit, Elena Diskin.
“We want people to understand - and we want to acknowledge that we might not be able to call every person," said Diskin. “The number of cases are really making it difficult to follow up with every person.”
Diskin said contact tracers are now focusing on people exposed recently, who might be involved in a cluster outbreak, who are at increased risk of severe illness, or who live in congregate living facilities - like nursing homes.
“If you’re trying to reach every single person, it might not be as effective as just looking at the timeliness factor and moving forward, unfortunately, and recognizing that you might not reach everybody," Diskin said.
“Acknowledging and recognizing the reality that we’re in right now. The staff are overwhelmed and they’re doing the best they possibly can but at a certain point, it becomes less effective to target somebody when days have gone by, or what not.”
Officials at the Chesapeake Health Department, for example, said contact tracers there were overworked and “overwhelmed” by the sheer number of new COVID-19 cases reported, every day.
So if you test positive for the coronavirus, it may be up to you to inform people you've been in contact with.
“When new cases are coming in every day by the hundreds, you kind of just have to keep moving forward. Unfortunately to anyone who you didn’t reach the day prior,” Diskin said.