MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — As Arizona begins reopening more, Maricopa County says it’s ramping up contact tracing efforts to help monitor positive cases and potential spread of the coronavirus.
“We have continued to do contact tracing and case investigation since the beginning of the pandemic,” Marcy Flanagan, Maricopa County Public Health Executive Director said.
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health is now ramping up contact tracing, adding an additional 33 investigators to the 25 currently working on it.
Their goal, is to quadruple the number of cases they can handle by July, just in case.
“We really looked at what we are providing right now and looked at what do we think the maximum number of cases we could see come in on a daily basis, that would be 400-500,” Flanagan said. “That would be almost four times what we’re seeing on a daily basis.”
The county’s system will begin with a text to someone who has tested positive. An investigator will then follow up with an interview to identify any contacts of the positive case.
Then, the positive case will report their symptoms to a secure electronic system to be monitored over several days. Potential close contacts will also be notified of what to watch for.
Any close contacts of positive cases will not be automatically tested for COVID-19, but they will be monitored for any symptoms that could develop. AZ 2-1-1 will also be assisting the county to reach out to any contacts from positive cases.
Other states like North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado and Utah are using opt-in or voluntary systems and apps to track people’s location, and the states are using that data to monitor where potential spread could be.
Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, the Maricopa County Public Health Medical Director, said that is not what’s going to be happening in Arizona.
“We do not have the ability to track individuals,” Sunenshine said. “We do have the ability to track where these individuals live and we are asking them to stay at home as much as possible. But this is not something we will be enforcing with any type of law enforcement.”