Florida is contact tracing COVID-19 but sharing few details about it

1,100 people working to trace contacts of COVID patients

TONIGHT- EXPERTS CALL ’CONTACTTRACING’ CRITICAL TO STOPPINGTHE SPREAD OF ANY DANGEROUSDISEASE.GOVERNOR DESANTIS SAYS THEY’VEBEEN DOING IT SINCE THEBEGINNING OF THE STATE’S COVIDCRISIS.

TONIGHT 4 IN YOURCORNER’S KATIE LAGRONE FINDS OUTWHY AS WE LOOK TO REBOUND FROMTHE PANDEMIC STATE EFFORTS AREFALLING SHORT AND WHAT THE PLANIS MOVING FORWARD.5-13101-108206-212MAY 6T━ MIAMI-Dr. Rivkees27:04- testing also goes hand inhand with something we callcontact tracingit means identifying individualswho have covid 19, identifyingwho their contacts are andhaving those individualsisolate.FLORIDA’S TOP DOCTOR WENT ON TODECLARE━Dr. Rivkees27:17- this is a way that we’regoing to actually stop the cycleof transmission from person toperson.LONG CONSIDERED ONE OF THEOLDEST TOOLS IN THE PUBLICHEALTH TOOLBOXCONTACT TRACINGIS A CENTURIES OLD WAY OFSTOPPING THE SPREAD OF DANGEROUSDISEASESIN FLORIDASTATE HEALTH LEADERSHAVE TOUTED THE PRACTICE AS PARTOF THE STATE’S DAY ONE STRATEGYIN ITS BATTLE AGAINST COVID-19.Dr. Rivkees27:25- we’ve been doing it fromthe very beginning and arecontinuing to expand.BUT DETAILS ON HOW━ AND HOWMUCH SUCCESS ITS HAD TRACING THEVIRUS FROM PERSON TO PERSONREMAIN LARGELY UNKNOWN.adriane4:47- it can’t look just likewe’ve always done it.ADRIANE CASALOTTI OF THENATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTYAND CITY HEALTH OFFICIALS IS ANEXPERT IN CONTACT TRACINGANDEXPLAINS WHY TRACING THECORONAVIRUS IS PRESENTINGCHALLENGES THEY’VE NEVER SEENBEFOREAdrian5:04- with coronavirus, everyminute counts.

Every minute thatwe’re not in touch withsomeone who may be infected andasking them to remove themselvesfrom the general population is aminute they can be transmittingthe disease.

5:15IN FLORIDAAFTER REPEATEDREQUESTS FOR DETAILS ON ITSCONTACT TRACING EFFORT━INCLUDING THE NUMBER OF PEOPLETRACEDAND THE NUMBER OF THOSETRACINGA SPOKESPERSON WITH THEDEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TOLD US INTHIS EMAIL"More than 1,100 individuals,including students,epidemiologists and other stafffrom across the Department, arecurrently involved in contacttracing every positive case ofCOVID-19 in Florida."THAT’S 1100 TRACERS IN A STATEWITH 21 1/2 MILLION PEOPLE.7:55- katie- is that enough?casalotti- well we estimate weneed at minimum we need 30contact tracers per 100,000peopleWHICH MEANS━ ACCORDING TOINDUSTRY STANDARDS, FLORIDA ISMORE THAN 5000 TRACERS SHORT.THE STATE SAYS IT IS"successfully meeting thecurrent operational demand."ADDING THE RATE OF POSITIVECASES IN FLORIDA IS ON THEDECLINE.BUT STATE SENATOR JANET CRUZ, ADEMOCRAT FROM TAMPA REMAINSCONCERNED.senator Janet cruz5:50- we had to scurry to hireepidemiologists- we didn’t haveas many employed as we shouldhave and we still don’t.tagACCORDING TO THE POLK COUNTYHEALTH DEPARTMENT- TRACING ISENTERED INTO A STATE DATABASEFOR MONITORING WHICH HAPPENSOVER THE PHONE OR THRU A TEX