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KBIA’s Health & Wealth Desk covers the economy and health of rural and underserved communities in Missouri and beyond. The team produces a weekly radio segment, as well as in-depth features and regular blog posts. The reporting desk is funded by a grant from the University of Missouri, and the Missouri Foundation for Health.Contact the Health & Wealth desk.

Explainer: What Is Contact Tracing, And How Does It Work In Boone County?

As counties across the state tentatively re-open, local health departments continue to work to document and ultimately contain the spread of COVID-19 through a method far pre-dating the Coronavirus: contact tracing.

Contact tracing involves identifying people who have come in contact with an infected person and notifying them in an effort to stall the spread of the disease. But how does contact tracing work? What exactly constitutes close contact? Does the Coronavirus pose any new challenges to these departments?

Reporter Trevor Hook spoke with Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Nursing Supervisor Trina Teacutter to learn more.

Q: How does contact tracing work?

A: Teacutter said the process remains largely consistent from county to county.

1.     Local health departments receive a notification that someone has tested positive for COVID-19.

2.     A contact tracer at the health department interviews the person who tested positive by phone to figure out who they have been in close contact with. Who lives in their household? Does the person have any intimate partners who may have been exposed to the virus?

3.     The contact tracer compiles a list of people that the person who has tested positive has been in close contact with and notifies them that they have been named as a close contact. The tracer will then ask questions about symptoms or underlying medical conditions, and recommend a self-quarantine of 14 days from their initial exposure to that person.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in contact tracing for those who test positive for COVID-19?

A: According to Teacutter, the biggest challenge for contact tracers now is the sheer amount of contacts and follow-ups needed daily for COVID-19 as compared to contact tracing for other communicable diseases like STDs.

“We need to follow those close contacts for 14 days after their last exposure. So we’re checking in with them each day to, you know, make sure ‘Hey, have you had any symptoms that have developed? Have you started having a fever? Have you developed a cough?’”

Q: What is a common misconception you run into when contacting those who may have been exposed?

A:  Teacutter said there is some confusion over exactly who should go into self-quarantine.

“So, you have a case – the person who has tested positive – and then you have the individuals who were in close contact with that person. I think something that people sometimes get confused is that if they are a contact, then they people they’ve been in contact with also need to quarantine. And that’s not true,” Teacutter said. “That would only be true if the contact to the original case tested positive and became a case.”

Q: How far back do contact tracers look when determining who to contact?

A: According to Teacutter, current guidelines dictate that tracers look back 48 hours before a patient’s symptoms started or 48 hours before they had their positive test if they are asymptomatic. Teacutter said prior CDC recommendations did not recommend going back 48 hours, and said that it’s possible that timeframes may change as guidelines continue to change.

Q: What exactly constitutes being in “close contact” with someone with COVID-19?

A: Teacutter said just walking by someone who later tests positive doesn’t mean you’re a close contact.

“It’s important for people to know that brief interactions with someone like you would have if you, you know, passed somebody in a grocery store or grabbing your food at takeout… that doesn’t make you a close contact,” Teacutter said. “Being within six feet of someone who was infected for a prolonged period of time, like 15 minutes or more, that sort of thing would be considered a close contact.”

Trevor Hook is a reporter, producer and morning anchor for KBIA 91.3 born and raised in New Franklin, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri with both a Master's degree in Audio Journalism in 2020 and a Bachelor's degree in Convergence Journalism in 2018.