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The Pennsylvania Department of Health, in accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will begin prioritizing efforts to find contacts and investigate covid-19 cases as cases increase and decrease. people cooperate with tracers and investigators.
Pennsylvania’s positivity rate rose to 11% this week, with more than 34,700 new cases reported in the past seven days, according to Michael Huff, director of the state’s tracing and contact tracing efforts. The surge in cases and the percentage of test positive led the CDC to recommend triage of case investigations and contact tracing efforts.
Case investigations take place first when someone tests positive for the virus. Case investigators are collecting demographic information and information about where the first potential contact was made, Huff explained. From there, contact tracers reach all potential contacts of a sick person from the moment they tested positive.
The new guidelines suggest that case investigators prioritize interviews with those who have tested positive in the past six days. Contact tracers from there, they suggest, focus on family contacts exposed in the past six days and people living, working, or visiting collective living spaces and other densely populated places.
Subsequently, if resources permit, the guidance suggests extending case investigation and contact tracing to people outside the household who are at increased risk of serious complications, who are part of a cluster or that have been exposed in the past six days.
The guidelines also suggest that if more than 14 days have passed since the test was collected, then the investigation and tracing should not be done.
“The covid-19 situation is fluid and directions continue to change over time, even after plans are prepared and adopted,” Huff said. “Public health controls are only as effective as the willingness of individuals to carry them out.”
He noted that out of more than 34,000 new cases reported in the past week, investigators have only managed to reach about 8,332 cases.
Ninety-six people, he said, refused quarantine.
“Why? Because people don’t want to answer the phone,” he says. “Because people don’t realize how important it is to give the information we need to make sure we can control the disease. . ”
The advice comes as the number of Pennsylvanians tested for the virus continues to grow, with the average daily number of PCR tests administered now hitting around 50,000. Antigen testing averages around 4,700 per day, Huff said.
In the past two days, he said, 111,838 PCR tests and 13,634 antigen tests have been administered. Since testing began, 5.5 million tests have been performed statewide, representing about 43% of the population.
Megan Guza is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, [email protected] or via Twitter .
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Coronavirus | News | Pennsylvania | Best Stories
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