Credit: County of Bucks
Bucks County has hired an organization to assist the health department with contact tracing, a key to locating and containing COVID-19 outbreaks.
The Bucks County Commissioners voted Wednesday to approve spending $885,000 in federal COVID-19 aid to hire Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, better known as Concilio, to staff up with eight to 10 new workers to assist with the county’s contact tracing information. The organization has experience in the field and has been working with the Philadelphia Department of Health on their contact tracing efforts.
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Previously, the county’s contact tracing efforts have been led by about a dozen public health nurses working six and seven days a week. The nurses have also been tending to their other duties and taking calls and answering questions about the coronavirus from the public.
Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker said the additional staff will help ease the burden on county staff, allow them to resume other important health work, and prepare for additional COVID-19 outbreaks and a potential vaccine.
“It’s difficult to keep the fire lit when you’re working for six months straight without a break,” Damsker said. “Additional staff will help us as we continue managing the pandemic in Bucks County and allow us to plan for future initiatives, including the distribution of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine – all without continuing to neglect our regular duties.”
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Health officials plan to train Concilio’s new contact tracers to the standards the county has used.
Bucks County presently has a 95.4 percent contact tracing success rate, Damsker said.
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Contact tracers in the county have called those with COVID-19, determined who they came into contact with, gather information on the symptom onset date, and answer questions. From there, contact tracers reach out to people who may be at risk due to their contact.
“Robust case investigations are essential to maintaining low levels of coronavirus transmission in the community by tracking its spread and notifying those who may have come into contact with infected persons. Rates of community spread, or infection from an untraceable source, in Bucks County have so far remained manageable, due in no small part to the Health Department’s efforts,” the county said in a statement.
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