Contact-tracing program rollout set

Berks County has signed a one-year $1 million contract with CoCounty Wellness Services to provide COVID-19 contact tracing, a major piece of the puzzle needed to safely reopen the economy.

Co-County will work with officials from the state Department of Health to run the contact-tracing program, which will begin the week of June 8. The county will spend money received through the federal CARES Act to fund the program.

Contact tracing involves finding everyone an infected patient has been in close contact with so they can self-quarantine to prevent the spread of a disease like COVID-19.

Having a robust system in place is one of the benchmarks Gov. Tom Wolf has set for counties looking to move through the phases of reopening from a statewide coronavirus shutdown.

“Berks County will move into the ‘yellow phase’ on June 5, lifting some restrictions for businesses and social interactions,” county Commissioners Chairman Christian Y. Leinbach said Friday in an emailed statement. “It’s critical for health officials to stay ahead of the disease as residents begin to venture out, heading off possible resurgence in positive case numbers.”

Carolyn Bazik, director and chief financial officer of Co-County Wellness Services, said she was delighted and grateful that the commissioners trusted the nonprofit with taking on the project.

“Anything we can do to help the community is what we’re here for,” she said.

How it works

The organization has experience with contact tracing, having used it for two decades to identify and notify partners of people diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases. Those efforts have led to a close relationship between Co-County and the Department of Health, Bazik said.

That relationship will prove critical in operating a successful contacttracing program, she said, as the agency and the department will work hand in hand.

Bazik said department officials will conduct the initial investigation of cases, speaking with those that test positive and come up with a list of people they’ve been in close contact with and may have infected. That list will go to Co-County

Wellness Services, which will have a team of parttime employees and volunteers call those people and alert them to their potential exposure.

Those contacted will be able to sign up for a free service that will send them daily alerts checking on their condition. If they decline that option, they will be contacted daily by Co-County to check on their symptoms and wellbeing.

Leinbach’s statement Friday stressed that all aspects of the case investigation and contact tracing will be voluntary, confidential and culturally appropriate and that no digital tracking applications will be utilized.

Bazik said the state has been doing some contact tracing for about three weeks but does not have the staff needed to operate a full program.

“The state just simply doesn’t have the capacity,” Bazik said, adding that Co-County will fill the gap.

The baseline

Bazik said her proposal to the county estimated 50 positive COVID-19 tests per day.

Based on national averages of each case having 10 close contacts and each of those contacts taking 15 to 30 minutes to handle, about 75 contact tracers would be needed to work four hours a day to address that many daily cases.

Ten staff members from

Co-County went through an online training course Thursday with the Department of Health, Bazik said. A small group will be trained next week in preparation to begin the contact tracing the following week.

Bazik said Co-County is working with the United Way of Berks County, local colleges and other groups to find volunteers, and will use a temp service to hire part-time workers. Anyone interested in being a contact tracer can email ccws1@cocounty. org.