The NJ’s communication tracking operation is cumbersome, experts say. Here’s how other states do it.

If you test positive for COVID-19 in New Jersey, you should eventually get a call from one of 3,500 people in the state Contact Tracers.

They will ask you how you are doing, give you information on how to isolate, and give you any help you need. Then, a big question comes up: Will you change the names and contact information of anyone who spent 10 or 15 minutes with the virus victims?

At that time, about 78% of those contacted in New Jersey stopped cooperating. They hang. They scream. They refuse to change names Their identity will be kept confidential.

Many months later poured in time, money and resources Expands New Jersey’s communication tracking function, Government Bill Murphy and other state health officials have repeatedly expressed frustration at the lack of results.

“We have done everything we can to provide our communities with the tools to fight COVID. Still, they hit the walls because those who were trained to help them did not help themselves or themselves,” Murphy said earlier this week, urging people to be more cooperative with contact tracers.

State officials have reason to be frustrated, experts say. With 78% of the population throwing out contact tracers, New Jersey’s performance is having difficulty compared to other states.

“Unfortunately, this is significantly worse than most states,” said Steve Waters, founder and CEO of Contrace Public Health Corps, which hires contractors and serves as a consultant to figure out actions.

“In terms of context, 35% in New York is uncooperative and 50% in Maryland. North Dakota, which is often seen as an example of what not to do, is about 80% uncooperative,” Waters said.

Other major states, including New York and Massachusetts, have had great success after quickly measuring their contact tracking efforts and public relations campaigns to find out what people should expect when a tracer calls.

Murphy said last week that he and his CEO had recently met with an unnamed company that could improve New Jersey’s communications track “batting average”. He said he plans to send the plan to state health commissioner Judith Persicilli for consideration.

New Jersey health officials did not respond to a request for comment on the state’s contact tracking numbers or what they are trying to improve.

Why is New Jersey so small?

It may be a combination of factors, including tracers not being able to come face to face, some local public relations efforts to educate the public about the role of contact tracers, many inexperienced tracers, a culture Shame on the virus The general distrust of transferring personal information to the government, experts say.

As one of the earliest and hardest-hit states for epidemics, New Jersey can also be plagued by COVID-19 fatigue and the suspicion that sending the names of friends and relatives could actually do anything to prevent the virus from spreading.

New Jersey needs more diversity in its communication channels, Waters said. New York City has received its accolades NYC Test and Trace Corps, Has focused on hiring 40 language-speaking tracers, including the latest impetus for Yiddish and Russian-speaking more. It has also encouraged contact tracers to knock on doors while helping to convince people to cooperate to change the names of their close contacts.

Waters said New Jersey, which has the largest immigrant population in the country, struggled to hire enough Spanish-speaking tracers.

“This is especially important because the Hispanic community is severely affected by COVID-19, and if the contact tracers are unable to communicate with them, it is important for the tracer to have the necessary level of trust with the cultural education of the Hispanic community so that the people they call can share their contacts comfortably.” Waters said.

New Jersey should turn to NGO sources, including local sports stars and celebrities, to talk publicly about the benefits of finding contact on social media and encourage people to cooperate, Waters said.

Other states have begun restructuring their communication tracking activities:

-New New Hampshire announced last month that it will no longer attempt to call every person who does a positive test in the state. “As social dissemination increases, this will become a less effective strategy,” state epidemiologist Ben Chan told a news conference. On the contrary, the government will Shorten its contact path only to vulnerable peopleIncluding children, the elderly, ethnic minorities and health workers.

-In Wisconsin, some health departments a The “crisis model” of communication tracking. Instead of trying to locate the victim’s contacts, the tracers call the person testing the positive and provide instructions for isolating them. Then, the victim is asked to call their close contacts themselves.

-Virginia announced last week New model of communication channel It prioritizes certain events. Over the past six days there have been calls for people diagnosed with COVID-19 and those in their homes, as well as people working in hospitals with newly diagnosed people and those with serious illnesses. Anyone connected to a known explosion or cluster will go to the top of the list.

New Jersey is not alone in struggling with communication innovation. Philadelphia It said it has trouble connecting with residents. City officials said only about 25% of those called by contact tracers answered the phone last month.

In South Florida, local officials said “Snowballs” and other people visiting for the winter Because they were particularly uncooperative with contact tracers, they did not want to talk about where they had traveled and with whom they had been in contact before the positive test.

As of last week, it was New Jersey Contact information for 97% of people who tested positive, But attempts were made to contact only 77%, according to the state dashboard. About 22% did not “take the call”, meaning they did not answer the phone, their contact information was incorrect or the person was hospitalized or died.

Approximately 56% of those who tested positive associated with contact tracers. Of them, 3% refused to speak and 78% refused to provide contacts to the persons they disclosed.

Of those identified as having been infected with the virus, half were successfully reached by contact tracers and 23% had symptoms of the corona virus.

New Jersey has been working hard to expand its liaison workforce, but experts say the government has launched several strikes against it. Decentralized state Patchwork of local and district health departments It is difficult to execute the integrated contact tracking function quickly. The state was also slow to put together a plan to hire other contact tracers last spring.

As corona virus cases continue to rise in the most densely populated areas of the country, New Jersey will need to quickly hire and train new contact tracers.

As of last week, there were 3,313 contact tracers in New Jersey, of which more than 200 were on duty in the first week. The government has said it has reached its recruitment target in every district except Bergen.

According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, there are currently about 37 contact tracers for every 100,000 people in New Jersey’s population.

According to TestAndress, a voluntary organization that compiles data on communication tracking, it is not enough for a state to exceed the daily positive rate of 10%.

The group gives New Jersey a relatively low score on its contact tracking operations rankings and says it needs at least 12,000 contact tracers for its size level. New Jersey is one of more than 30 states that receive 0 in the group’s 0 to 5 rating testing and tracking systems.

Other states, including New York, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., have higher scores on the TestAndrace rankings, with a lower percentage of people testing positive because the states have higher contact tracers per person.

As the second wave of the virus continues to hit New Jersey, public health experts say it may be time for New Jersey to emulate other states and seriously reconsider the concept of contact tracking. When thousands of people test positive every day, communication tracking can be minimal and delayed.

“Communication tracking should be used at a high level this summer to prevent it from getting to where we are today when the spread of infection was low,” said Perry Halkidis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health.

Despite New Jersey’s high cooperation, it is not possible to ask 3,300 contact tracers to track thousands of new cases every day.

“In the current state of disease transmission, contact tracking, while effective, has less preventive use and is even more difficult to carry out due to the steep acceleration of infections,” Halkidis said.

New Jersey Attempting to find contact was costly. In the summer, state officials said they hired a Massachusetts company General Advisory Committee, Or PCG, for a three-month contract to hire, manage and pay for 1,200 contact tracers.5 23.5 million.

Rudders signed a $ 16.3 million deal with the School of Public Health earlier this year to hire, train and pay for 1,000 contact tracers. An additional $ 1.9 million was spent on using the Tracer database to track the work of contact tracers.

But Waters, founder of the CONTRACE Public Health Corps, encouraged people not to abandon New Jersey altogether. At an individual level, even if a person is reported to be infected with the virus, tested and controlled for its spread, communication tracking is a success.

“Communication tracking does not require 100% participation to be effective. No matter how many people are warned, they can take action to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities, which is better than anyone,” Waters said.

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Kelly Heybor Can be reached at [email protected].