Florida’s contact tracking challenges mean that situations where Covid-19 is difficult to perform proper contact tracking are difficult even under the best conditions. The virus has gone so far in states like Florida that it is apparently a Herculean task to track every infected person and keep track of all their close contacts.

CNN spoke to 27 Floridians or family members who tested positive for Covid-19. Only five of them said they received a call asking health officials to contact them.

There are concerns about monitoring communication at the national level, not just in Florida. In an interview in June, CNN, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He asked Anthony Fauci how he thought contact tracking went in the USA.

“I don’t think we’re doing very well,” he replied.

What is contact tracking?

Contact tracking is a centuries-old practice, and the basics have not changed much: Basically, healthcare workers ask infected people for a list of everyone they contact with, although potentially contagious. The worker then tells these contacts to quarantine themselves and monitor the symptoms.

A Florida Health Department spokesman in Miami-Dade County sent CNN a statement about their liaison tracking in their state.

“When the Department of Health receives a notification that a person has tested positive for COVID-19, the department runs a comprehensive epidemiological investigation in connection with: [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] identifying individuals who have been in close contact with the virus. These individuals are then informed by the district health departments and are asked to self-isolate for 14 days after exposure to the virus and to contact the provincial health departments and healthcare providers immediately if symptoms develop. This process is being followed for all individuals who test positively in Florida, “Olga Connor wrote to the email.

The number of communication trackers in Florida is uncertain

It is unclear how many contact trackers are used by the state of Florida, as the Department of Health spokesperson gave CNN two different numbers.

“More than 1,600 people, including students across the department, epidemiologists and other staff are now in contact with the follow-up of every COVID-19 case in Florida.” Candy Sims spokesperson at Broward County Florida, wrote CNN.

The ministry has set up a private company to hire 400 more viewers.

Health spokesman Alberto Moscoso, however, wrote to CNN a larger quote by writing that Florida had 2,300 “people involved in contact tracking”.

Sims and Moscoso did not answer questions about the differences in their numbers in CNN.

“Immediately inform the people you are in close contact with when you are sick,” he said, adding that they should be quarantined for 14 days.

The Florida infographic does not explain what to do if someone tests positive for Covid-19 but never shows symptoms. According to the CDC, in this case, people should be informed that they are in close contact with the infected person two days before taking that person’s Covid test.

5 of 27 Florists received follow-up

Five of the 27 Floridians who tested positive for Covid-19 said they received a call from CNN asking them to contact a healthcare provider.

Among the 27 cases, the earliest diagnosis was in February and the last diagnosis was last week.

Riveras signed a contract with Covid in early March, when contact followers were much less pressured than they are now. Shaila Rivera said an official from the Miami-Dade County Health Department was looking for their illness and asked questions, but not their contact.

“We were surprised,” said a child nurse practitioner Rivera. “The whole conversation was less than a minute. There was no question who you contacted. Did you go to work? None.”

Eleven people out of 27 said they received calls from Florida medics like Riveras, but their contact was undesirable.

David Pugh, who lives in Broward County, said he received such a phone call.

“I don’t know that we can count on the state to do a comprehensive job. I think there are obvious flaws in the system.” Said.

Doubts about the usefulness of contact tracking

More than five months ago, the contact has been tracked since the first case in the United States, and there are several reasons why this outbreak could not be found.

“How to follow up when someone has no symptoms?” Fauci said in an interview with CNN. “The standard, classic definition, isolation, contact tracking paradigm doesn’t work no matter how good you are because you don’t know who you’re watching.”

He also said that some people are hesitant to meet with government officials.

“The dots are not connected because many of them are done over the phone,” said Fauci. “Fifty percent of people because you come from an authority, I don’t even want to talk to you.”

In addition to these issues, some experts doubt that contact tracking is beneficial in areas such as Florida where sudden cases are sudden.

Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm urged Florida leaders to focus on other strategies, such as finding where the virus spreads.

With thousands of new cases a day in Florida, Osterholm doubted that contact tracking would have a lot of impact.

“If Florida can return to less than 50 to 100 cases per day, contact tracking can help. But right now, it’s unlikely to have a measurable effect,” he said. “It’s like trying to extinguish a forest fire with a single fire truck. It won’t just make a notch.”