{"id":210813,"date":"2020-10-20T20:24:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T01:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=210813"},"modified":"2020-10-21T08:13:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:13:50","slug":"nddoh-changes-in-covid-contact-tracing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=210813","title":{"rendered":"NDDoH, changes in COVID contact tracing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-194129\" src=\"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/NDhealth-300x202.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/NDhealth-300x202.png 300w, https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/NDhealth-260x175.png 260w, https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/NDhealth.png 445w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Bismarck\u00a0 (CSi) \u2013 Gov. Doug Burgum and the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) Tuesday announced changes to the state\u2019s contact tracing process to more quickly notify individuals who test positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>North Dakota added 400 contact tracers and case investigators last summer to help quickly trace and quarantine close contacts, allowing contact tracing to continue long after many other states had to suspend their efforts. However, a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in recent weeks has put increased pressure on contact tracing teams at the state and local level, leading to tracing delays and a backlog of positive cases that have yet to be assigned to a case investigator.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the time it takes to notify a positive case of his or her result has increased from 24 hours to approximately 72 hours from when the lab confirms the result. In addition, significant community spread of coronavirus and a lack of compliance with close contact investigations have diminished the effectiveness of contact tracing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis temporary situation required an immediate and significant shift in resources to provide results in a timely manner to individuals who test positive to protect their health and slow the spread of COVID-19,\u201d Burgum said.<\/p>\n<p>To reduce the backlog and shorten notification times:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The North Dakota National Guard\u00a0has shifted 50 soldiers\u00a0from contacting close connects to notifying positive individuals. By refocusing\u00a0these\u00a0resources,\u00a0the backlog of notifications should be eliminated by Thursday, Oct. 22.<\/li>\n<li>Close contacts will no longer be contacted by public health officials; instead, positive individuals will be instructed to self-notify their close contacts and direct them to the NDDoH website, where landing pages will be created with video and written resources explaining the recommended and required actions for both positive patients and close contacts.\u00a0 \u00a0The exception is contact tracing for health care settings, K-12 schools and university systems which will continue as usual.<\/li>\n<li>The state is building a process to\u00a0deliver automated notifications to positive individuals. Currently,\u00a0the system only delivers automated notifications to\u00a0individuals with negative test results.\u00a0Positive patients will still receive a follow-up call from a case investigator after their initial automated notification.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cSpeeding up the notification process and conducting thorough case investigations of positive patients will help us to better identify potential clusters and allow patients to more quickly seek treatment and notify other individuals who may have been exposed to the virus,\u201d Interim State Health Officer Dirk Wilke said. \u201cIt\u2019s critically important to understand that the quarantine recommendations for close contacts haven\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The changes were developed through collaboration between the NDDoH, Governor\u2019s Office, Department of Human Services, National Guard, North Dakota Information Technology, the state\u2019s chief health strategist, Dr. Joshua Wynne, dean of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Dr. Paul Carson, infectious disease specialist and professor at North Dakota State University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCase investigation and contact tracing are just two of the tools used to combat COVID-19. Now, more than ever, we need to prioritize what\u2019s most important and this includes quickly identifying positive cases, strengthening community mitigation efforts and taking personal responsibility,\u201d Burgum said. \u201cWearing a face covering, social distancing, avoiding large gatherings and staying home when you\u2019re sick all play a role in limiting spread and saving lives and livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more information on North Dakota\u2019s COVID-19 response, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.health.nd.gov\/coronavirus\">www.health.nd.gov\/coronavirus<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ndresponse.gov\">www.ndresponse.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bismarck\u00a0 (CSi) \u2013 Gov. Doug Burgum and the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) Tuesday announced changes to the state\u2019s contact tracing process to more quickly notify individuals who test positive for COVID-19. North Dakota added 400 contact tracers and case investigators last summer to help quickly trace and quarantine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":194129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210813"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210833,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210813\/revisions\/210833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/194129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}