State, county health departments will move away from contact tracing for COVID-19
The state Health Department and health departments for Oklahoma and Tulsa counties issued a joint announcement Thursday saying they’d be moving away from universal case investigations and contact tracing for COVID-19.
In part because of how the omicron variant has led to more cases than ever — many of which are less severe and detected through at-home testing — investigators and epidemiologists will instead focus on outbreaks and clusters in high-risk settings, the departments said.
So, what does that mean if you test positive for COVID-19?
Since November 2021, the state Health Department has encouraged Oklahomans to use a "self-serve" online portal to do their own contact tracing.
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People who provide their contact information will get a text from the Health Department to see their COVID-19 test results and see the department's recommendations.
That will still happen as part of the move away from contact tracing.
The announcement came the same day Oklahoma set an all-time high for COVID-19 hospitalizations. The state reported an average of more than 2,000 patients were in hospitals across the state, according to a three-day average the state reported Thursday.
People might still receive a direct call from the health department in some situations, like if they have a connection to a high-risk setting like a long term care facility or daycare.
“Individuals might also receive a direct call if the individual is potentially associated with a cluster or outbreak” of COVID-19, Tulsa Health Department spokeswoman Leanne Stephens said in an email.
People might also get a call from a health department staff member in relation to disease besides COVID-19.
For example, contact tracing was used to investigate the recent salmonella outbreak “and remains a vital public health tool,” Stephens said.
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The change won’t affect how COVID-19 case data will be reported by the state Health Department, a spokeswoman for the agency said.
In the joint statement from the state Health Department, the Oklahoma City-County Health Department and the Tulsa Health Department, the agencies said Oklahoma is part of many public health organizations that'll be making a similar transition.
They cited a statement from the Association of Public Health Laboratories, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Big Cities Health Coalition, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the National Association of Country and City Health Officials.
The organizations said several factors have recently made universal contact tracing less effective:
A large number of asymptomatic and less severe COVID-19 cases
Many infections never making it into official systems, because of increased use of at-home testing and people with mild cases who may not get tested
The highest risk of transmission occurring before symptoms begin
The omicron variant's shorter incubation time
Instead, the public health organizations suggested that local public health strategies should include increasing vaccination — including boosters — especially for people at high risk of severe outcomes with COVID-19, strong messaging about the importance of mask-wearing, and targeting prevention strategies to people at highest risk, among others.
They suggested conducting outbreak investigations and targeted case investigations "as necessary to prevent or understand disease transmission in high-risk settings" or for people with severe illness or unusual symptoms.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma health departments to move away from COVID-19 contact tracing
