‘There will be resistance against contact tracing’

Jennifer Rigby

ONLY a third of people involved in the UK’S first contact tracing scheme agreed to self-isolate, the organisers have disclosed.

A retired doctor who set up the scheme in Sheffield said issues with the pilot programme posed a “major challenge” for the Government’s test and trace programme, launched today.

The DIY contact tracing team, launched by retired doctors and public health officials in April as the Sheffield

Community Contact Tracers, said they had struggled in particular to persuade health and care workers to self-isolate.

The team initially identified 58 contacts from 10 coronavirus cases; 19 were named, given advice, and followed for a recommended 14-day quarantine. One became ill.

However, the 10 initial cases were either unable or unwilling to provide the details of the remaining 39 contacts. Of these, 29 worked for the NHS or a care home provider. Their employers were contacted and given self-isolation advice but, while some said they would inform staff, they provided no further details to allow for follow-up. Others refused to cooperate.

Dr Bing Jones said the scheme did show some positives, but there had been issues with many NHS and care home workers. “They generally said ‘we’d like to help but I discussed it with my manager and my manager says no’.”

He said this would become “a major challenge for the Government”.

Dr Tom Wingfield, senior lecturer at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: “The preliminary data… confirm what tuberculosis (TB) contact tracing teams around the UK already know: contact tracing is not easy.”