Fraser Health has launched a new online contact tracing form to speed up the reporting of COVID-19 cases.
The new form, which can be accessed through a tablet, smartphone or computer, will provide the health authority with an individual’s personal identifiers, symptoms and contacts who were potentially exposed to the virus. Contact tracers then follow up with everyone listed on the form.
“As the majority of new COVID-19 cases in our region are between the ages of 20 and 39, we are providing a new, more convenient option for our contact tracing process based on the feedback we have received,” wrote a spokesperson for Fraser Health in a press release.
At the moment, Fraser Health has the capacity to do 600 case investigations within 24 hours of receiving lab confirmation. The new option will boost that capacity.
In an interview with Fraser Health CEO Dr. Victoria Lee, the head of the health authority said the new reporting option will cut out the lag time between the time a person receives notification of a positive test result and when public health is notified.
“It might seem a bit onerous but it’s much better than spending hours on the phone,” said Lee, noting tracing the chains of transmission can sometimes take days to complete for a team of tracers that has already been pushed to the edge of their capabilities.
Instead, the new online form allows people to report in a “patient-centred” process, which cuts down on administrative work and only requires a quick call to validate the contacts listed by an infected person.
The new contact tracing option comes as Fraser Health continues on a hiring spree for Lee described as “virus detectives” and redeploys staff to trace COVID-19 cases as transmissions surge. More than 100 people have been redeployed to trace transmission chains and 500 new contact tracers have been hired so far.
Despite surges in transmission rates across the province, Fraser Health continues to account for the bulk of new coronavirus cases: of the 694 new cases reported Thursday, 465 (67%) were traced back to Fraser Health, which stretches from Boston Bar to Burnaby and includes the Tri-Cities.
In announcing the new contact tracing option, Fraser Health said it only uses and shares personal information for “authorized purposes” and is legally bound to “securely store and protect it.”
The health authority also reiterated that “it is critically important for people who have tested positive for COVID-19, or are waiting for their test results to self-isolate.”
Those living in the Fraser Health region can use the BC COVID-19 self-assessment tool and get tested once they’ve noticed even the mildest of symptoms.
Here’s how to book a test.
