Kane County Weighs $12M Plan To Boost Coronavirus Contact Tracing

KANE COUNTY, IL — Kane County officials are weighing a proposal to spend $12 million to bolster contact tracing efforts as daily coronavirus cases in Illinois begin to rise again.

County officials released a plan Friday that calls for the county to hire a firm to perform contact tracing, with the county’s Health Department unable to handle a potential surge in cases, according to a report by the Daily Herald.

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Illinois public health guidelines say Kane County needs 160 people working as contact tracers, and contact tracing must continue until at least June 2021, the report states.

The Kane County Health Department has 66 people conducting contact tracing, which requires officials to contact all people who test positive within 24 hours and then try to determine who they had been in close contact with over the previous few days.

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Kane County health officials in May spoke of the importance of contact tracing, urging them to answer their phones if they receive a call from the Health Department.

Susan Stack, the Health Department’s communications director, said contact tracing is “imperative” in gaining some control over the coronavirus.

"It's one of the most important things that we're doing to try to contain the spread of the virus,” Stack said.

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A special committee was due to meet Monday to discuss whether the plan to increase contact tracing can be justified as an emergency expense. The committee, which was established by Kane County Board to allocate $93 million in federal coronavirus-relief funding, could approve the plan at its meeting Tuesday, the report states.

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Barbara Jeffers, executive director of the Kane County Health Department, told the Daily Herald she has the authority under the county’s emergency declaration in March to enact the plan without approval, but she wants support from the board because of the $12 million cost.

That funding would also go toward training and education programs, housing people, and amassing a 30-day emergency supply of protective gear in the event there is a surge in coronavirus cases this fall, the report states.

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Public health officials have confirmed 8,196 coronavirus cases and 281 related deaths, as of Monday.

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