Massachusetts, praised by public health officials for being one of the first states to set up a coronavirus contact tracing program, is running into a problem: people aren’t picking up their phones. When investigators reached out to infected residents and those with whom they came into close contact
Massachusetts, praised by public health officials for being one of the first states to set up a coronavirus contact tracing program, is running into a problem: people aren’t picking up their phones.
Experts have long said that along with robust coronavirus testing, contact tracing -- the detective work of searching backward from a positive coronavirus case for everyone who might've been exposed to it -- on a massive scale is key to a safer reopening of the country.
“When you miss anyone, and your contact tracing is incomplete, then you are at risk of ongoing transmission,” said Capt. Eric Pevzner, the chief of the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, the country’s premier public health investigation program. Story continues“We’re hearing more and more from local health departments that have ramped up contact tracing, if citizens, if community members are seeing the Health Department on their phone, they’re really reluctant to provide information,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, the CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represents nearly 3,000 local health departments across the country.
The state has also launched a public service announcement campaign to promote the effort help residents understand what to expect from a potential phone call. Freeman, who is in contact with hundreds of counties conducting contact tracing each day, said that communities with large immigrant populations have struggled in some cases to reach undocumented immigrants who have come in contact with people infected with COVID-19.
“There is some mistrust, and we battle with that in public health in general, for the communities to trust the government,” she said. “Immigration status is not a requirement for being tested. We just try to get that messaging out as much as we can and often.” “Let’s not make the choice between tech and people, we need both,” Raed Mansour, Director of Innovation at the Chicago Department of Public Health, told ABC News. “In contact tracing, you need to meet people where they are.”"Texting is another way we are letting people know they are trying to reach them," Pevznar, the CDC official, told ABC News."We find people tend to be more receptive to text. Text is a valuable tool.
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