Both Kane and McHenry County Health Departments are awaiting word from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on grants for additional funding of contact tracing. Each county sent their plans on exactly how they would use the yearlong grant for their respective contact tracing program. The request originated at IDPH anticipating county health departments in Illinois might need more people working in contact tracing should Illinois’ caseload of COVID-19 positives increase as restrictions are eased under Phase 4.
Contact tracing is not a new tool for health departments, though the technique is receiving significant attention brought on by COVID-19. The Kane County Health Department has used contact tracing for disease breakouts such as measles. Uche Onwuta, the director of the Division of Health and Protection for the Kane County Health Department, recalls an Ebola outbreak in Africa.
“We were monitoring people who were exposed in Kane County…people who traveled from the high incidence areas and came here for meetings. We had to monitor them for 21 days,” Onwuta said.
For specifics on how contact tracing works, McHenry County Department of Health Nursing Director Susan Karras knows how essential it is to reduce the transmission of a virus like COVID-19.
“Once we receive a report of an individual who has tested positive, we make immediate contact with the positive case to conduct a complete epidemiological investigation, which includes the identification of contacts to the case that would have been exposed while they were infectious,” Karras said. She further explained these contacts are then notified. “They would be provided guidance on quarantine if they are asymptomatic and/or isolation (if they are found to be symptomatic), testing, and provide any other guidance and support that would be relevant to their situation.”
While more and more people are expressing interest in the work of contact tracing, the needs of the health departments are on a much more massive scale than they’ve ever experienced. Onwuta recognizes the need and the cost for training and other related expenses.
“We have about 7,000 cases in Kane County. The Illinois Department of Public Health requests that we communicate with all the contacts within 24 hours of receiving a positive test, so that involves a lot of resources in terms of workforce,” Onwuta said. Onwuta is hoping the IDPH comes through with the grant soon because she wants the county to stand ready for a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases in the fall. Karras puts some perspective on the historical patterns of past pandemics in that second waves are not uncommon.
“This grant will allow us to increase our capacity to conduct case investigations and contact tracing as well as help with resources to help those that are in quarantine/isolation to improve compliance,” Karras said.
In the battle against COVID-19, both health departments are quick to point out important information about contact tracing. Onwuta explains that “it’s very important the public knows we’ll never ask for your Social Security number, but we will ask for your name, date of birth, address, and gender. That type of demographic information is important. We will ask you to confirm that you actually had contact with that case. It’s very confidential. We ask that you self-quarantine for 14 days and watch for symptoms, and contact the health department if you should develop symptoms,” Onwuta said.
If the person comes down with coronavirus, Onwuta points out, they’ll be isolated for at least 10 days and experience all the other conditions that go with it. Contact tracing helps stop the spread of the virus and since we do not have a vaccine yet, Onwuta emphasizes that “the next best thing is contact tracing. That’s the only way we can get control of the pandemic.”
