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COVID-19 continues to be transmitted throughout Montana and the world. However, there are zero positive cases of COVID-19 in Carter County. As of Tuesday afternoon, Montana has 523 positive cases of COVID-19, but 462 of those have already recovered. While everyone is asked to follow guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19, one method that local public health departments use to slow the spread of COVID-19 and other transmittable diseases is through case investigations and contact tracing.

Case investigations and contact tracing are fundamental public health activities that involve working with a patient who has been diagnosed with an infectious disease to identify and provide support to people who may have been infected through exposure to the patient. This method has been utilized by public health agencies for decades to curb the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, syphilis, measles, tuberculosis, and many others.

Case investigation first involves the identification of patients with confirmed or probable COVID-19. Then the public health professional contacts the patient to obtain information about who they were in close contact with during the past fourteen days. This information helps the public health agency determine where the patient may have contracted COVID-19 and to whom the patient may have transmitted the virus.

Contact tracing involves public health professionals contacting the individuals found to be close contacts of the patient during the infectious period of the disease and informing these individuals of the possibility of exposure. For example, a patient found to have COVID-19 may be spreading the virus two days before having symptoms. Anyone in close contact with the patient, two days prior to the start of their symptoms to when the patient went into isolation, will be asked to quarantine voluntarily.

Public health professionals also use this time to provide contacts with education, information and support to understand their risk. They also educate contacts on how they should separate themselves from others who are not exposed, how to monitor themselves for illness, and the possibility that they could spread the infection to others even if they do not feel ill.

Another important aspect of case investigation and contact tracing is privacy. Even though public health professionals are reaching out to close contacts, those individuals are only informed that they are at high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to exposure to a positive case. However, the contact is not given the name of the person to whom they were exposed.

Identifying contacts and ensuring they do not interact with the public is vital to protecting others in the community and preventing further spread of COVID-19. To learn more about COVID-19 and contact tracing go to https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/open-america/contact-tracing/.