JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – When the Florida Department of Health chose to suspend contact tracing in Duval County public schools on Friday, it left families worried about the rapid spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 confused – and wondering how to monitor a disease that can be transferred between asymptomatic patients.
“My daughter would come in and be like, ‘Oh, someone has COVID. They came out. and I’m, like, ‘OK, have you been around them?’ She’s, like, ‘Well, yeah, I had a class with them, but, you know, I was maybe two desks away,'” Shirley Simmons said, describing a conversation with one of her two girls. “It’s tricky because [COVID-19 positive] the kids might be in the hallways, a classroom having lunch, but they’re not sending all those kids home. So by the time you realize that they have, they’re now positive, you know, a few more students are sick – but my daughter being near them isn’t being sent home.
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While some are trying to circumvent the DOH’s suspended contact tracing, others have pointed out that the department’s efforts weren’t very effective in the first place.
“For my household, I don’t really think contact tracing is necessary,” Duval County parent Laurel Martinez said. “At this point, we’ve been in this pandemic for so long, I mean, who hasn’t been exposed?”
Omicron has set new daily case count records in most areas of Florida. The DCPS thresholds that triggered the automatic suspension of its mask mandate in late October have since been hit more than ten times.
News4JAX contacted the Florida Department of Health to explain why it ended contact tracing, but no response was immediately received.
On Jan. 6, the department also updated its guidance for people who have been exposed to a known case of COVID-19 but have no symptoms, saying “testing is unlikely to have clinical benefit.” .
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Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends anyone exposed get tested for COVID-19 and stay in isolation until you receive the results.
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