It is an overwhelming time for the Ministry of Health. We are in the midst of a COVID-19 surge. The health department blames the highly contagious delta variant for the rise in cases and now they are asking some people who test positive for the virus to contact the trace on their own. “I think they’ve always had that obligation, because of the timing. The person is the first person who knows they’re HIV-positive,” says health commissioner Dr Mark Levine. The delta variant spreads quickly and people cases are beyond what contact tracers can handle, which is why the health department now relies on people who are not of school age, who are not over 65 or who do not identify themselves to the BIPOC community for contact tracing on their own. “When you’re doing contact tracing, it’s really important to reach people in a timely manner. And we knew that with this very large number of cases, we don’t We weren’t going to be able to reach everyone as quickly as we usually do,” Deputy Health Commissioner Kelly Dougherty said. The Department of Health’s website now tells someone how to contact him- even the trace. The first step is to identify the infectious period“You leave the day before your symptoms start, 48 hours before. Now, if you just got tested and you weren’t symptomatic at all, go 48 hours before the time you took your test,” Levine said. The second and third steps are to identify close contacts and notify them. “It’s within 6 feet, 15 minutes of exposure, commutatively over a 24-hour period,” Levine said. A link to the guidelines can be found here: What to do if you test positive for COVID-19 | The Vermont Department of Health (healthvermont.gov) The limit of people contacted by a tracer is why the Health Department says it’s so important to know your role in the process. “They may not get a call from the health department. you can hear from us, but again, because the delta variant is spreading so quickly, we want people to be able to take action as soon as possible,” Dougherty said. Looking forward to Thanksgiving, Levine encourages families to talk about vaccinations, limit gatherings and use a testing strategy. The health department expects it will return to full contact tracing once the positive cases of the delta variant dwindle.
It is an overwhelming time for the Ministry of Health. We are in the midst of a wave of COVID-19.
The health department blames the highly contagious delta variant for the rise in cases and is now asking some people who test positive for the virus to contact the trace on their own.
“I think they always had that obligation, because of the way the timing works. The person is the first person who knows they are HIV positive,” says Health Commissioner Dr Mark Levine.
The delta variant is spreading rapidly and cases are beyond what contact tracers can handle.
That’s why the health department now relies on people who aren’t of school age, who are no older than 65, or who don’t identify with the BIPOC community to contact research through them- same.
“When doing contact tracing, it’s really important to reach people in a timely manner. And we knew that with this very large number of cases, we were not going to be able to reach everyone as quickly as we usually do, ”said Deputy Health Commissioner Kelly Dougherty.
The health department website now tells someone how to contact the trace themselves.
The first step is to identify the infectious period
“You leave the day before your symptoms start, 48 hours before. Now, if you just got tested and you weren’t symptomatic at all, go 48 hours before the time you took your test,” Levine said.
The second and third steps are to identify close contacts and notify them.
“It’s within 6 feet, 15 minutes of exposure, commutatively over a 24-hour period,” Levine said.
A link to the guidelines can be found here: What to do if you test positive for COVID-19 | Vermont Department of Health (healthvermont.gov)
The limit on who is contacted by a tracer is why the health department says it’s so important to know your role in the process.
“They may not get a call from the health department. you can hear from us, but again, because the delta variant is spreading so quickly, we want people to be able to take action as soon as possible,” Dougherty said.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving, Levine encourages families to discuss vaccinations, limit gatherings and use a testing strategy.
The health department expects it will return to full contact tracing once the positive cases of the delta variant dwindle.
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