TORONTO -- Until there is a vaccine or treatment, contact tracing is one of the key tools available to stop the spread of COVID-19.
According to Ontario Public Health, it’s a process used to identify, educate and monitor people who have come in close contact with people infected with the virus.
In Toronto, contact tracing has become a major undertaking.
During the pandemic, Toronto’s Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vinita Dubey said it’s gone from around 100 people doing the work to more than 600, including 45 volunteers.
Dubey said officials have learned about 20 per cent of cases are spread in the community, but knowing exactly where transmission took place isn’t always easy because the virus has a 14-day incubation period.
“It’s often difficult to pinpoint,” Dubey said.
She said patients are asked about the past 14 days to figure where they got infected and the past 48 hours with symptoms to collect contacts.
Toronto’s goal is to connect with 90 per cent of people with a positive case within 24 hours based on provincial targets, Dubey said.
She said Toronto is meeting the target 85 per cent of the time, and every case gets investigated.
Dubey said officials have also learned that at the beginning of the pandemic COVID- 19 was spreading from about one person to 3.5 people.
It’s now spreading from one person to another single person.
Contract tracing on the front lines
Henry Chong, a Durham Region public health nurse, compared the job to detective work.
He makes phone calls to people who’ve been in close contact with someone who’s tested positive positive for the virus.
It could be a roommate, family member or co-worker, but due to confidentiality he can’t reveal their name.
“Sometimes individuals do ask, ‘can you tell me who I’ve been in contact with?’ And we just tell them we’re not able to disclose that, but you have been identified as someone who has been exposed,” Chong said.
He then tells them to self-isolate to stop the spread in case they do become infected and gives further health advice.
Nancy Bevilacqua, a public health official with York Region Public Health, said receiving a call can be stressful.
“Often, it is the first time they might be hearing about it; so as you can imagine they mighty be quite fearful. They not might quite understand what’s going on,” Bevilacqua said.
She said one way to help to stop spread is for people to keep a log about where they’ve travelled in case someone from public health calls.
