Health professional discusses obstacles of contact tracing

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Contact tracers with the Columbia/Boone County Health department continue to reach out to people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 as case numbers increase.

COVID-19 cases in Boone County surpassed 2,000 on Tuesday.

Todd Guess is a senior planner at the health department but has been coordinating the contact tracing program there.

He said most of the time when contact tracers reach out people are gracious and appreciate the information the department's staff provides.

Guess said in the age of cell phones they can have trouble getting in contact with people at times.

"You don't like answering phone numbers that you don't recognize. A lot of people don't bother checking voicemails," Guess said.

He said contact tracers try to work around these obstacles by reaching out to people by text. They also call at different times of the day.

"Maybe they're not available in the mornings so we try to get them in the afternoons, etc.," he said.

The department reaches out to people between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Guess said the department does not have more trouble getting in contact with any specific age group over another, but did say it is typically harder to track contacts for younger people between 18 and 24 years old.

"We want you to be good historians these days. It's important for you to keep a mental list of where you've gone and who you've seen," he said.

Nathan Granneman is a physician at Big Tree Medical Home in Columbia.

He said the virus can spread easily through respiratory droplets.

"They can be standing behind someone at Walmart, they turn their head, they cough in their sleeve and this, and if they don't have a mask on it's right in your face," he said.

Guess said the current system of contact tracing, testing, tracing, and isolating, is the best strategy public health professionals have to mitigate the spread of the virus.

He said Boone County is fortunate to have good resources for testing and to quickly get results, which makes tracing and isolating more effective.

Guess said he understands telling the health department who you have been in close contact with if you test positive can be uncomfortable.

"What I would say to anyone who hesitates is please understand that our intentions are good. What we want to do is limit the spread of this disease in Boone County," he said. "The better we're able to do that the sooner we can all go back to normal."

He said it would become a problem if people withholding information became systemic and happened repeatedly, but it is not a widespread issue in Boone County.

Granneman pointed out one person can have many contacts.

"It just takes the wrong person, gets infected, doesn't know it, not wearing a face mask and checking out people at the register where you have hundreds of exposures.

He said anxiety has been higher for some people during COVID and the uncertainty it brings.

"I'd say we probably have a higher proportion we treat with anxiety and depression just because of lack of access to most other healthcare settings and backups with getting in to regular doctors," he said. "We've definitely seen a spike of those symptoms during COVID or reentry back into public schools with anxiety about that."

Guess said people often find out they have tested positive for Coronavirus from their provider before the health department reaches out, and if that happens they can start isolating right and away and gather contact information for contacts.

He said if someone receives a call or text but they are not sure if it is from the health department they can call to verify that it is not a scam.