Cooperate With Contact Tracers, Burlington County Officials Urge

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — Following an uptick in recent coronavirus cases, Burlington County officials are echoing comments from state officials that cooperating with contact tracers is critical to stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

“This virus does not care about your age, where you live or what you do for a living. It just does everything it can to replicate itself, and it’s up to all of us to counteract that,” Burlington County Health Director Herb Conaway said. “It’s entirely in our hands, so it’s time to dig deep and make sure we all do what’s required to prevent this disease from spreading further.”

On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy emphasized the importance of cooperating with contact tracers as means to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Nearly half of the New Jersey residents called by contact tracers are refusing to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19, according to Murphy. Read more here: Contact Tracing Not A 'Witch Hunt' Gov. Murphy Says

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In Burlington County, contact tracers were unable to investigate about 24 percent of new coronavirus cases between July 26 and Aug. 1.

“Contact tracing is absolutely essential to preventing coronavirus from spreading, but it can’t work if our residents don’t accept the phone call or refuse to cooperate with tracing efforts,” Burlington County Freeholder Dan O’Connell, liaison to the Health Department, said. “Help us to help you by communicating with the contact tracers.”

Contact tracers connect with individuals who have tested positive for the coronavirus and other diseases to deliver critical help, officials said. They also gather additional information that can be used to stop the spread of the disease.

Contact tracers collect information for health purposes only and never share this information with other agencies like law or immigration enforcement, officials said. Contact tracers don't reveal the names of those they have worked with on related calls without their permission, officials said.

The Health Department will also never ask individuals contacted for the purposes of contact tracing for sensitive, personal information such as social security numbers, credit card information, or other private data, officials said.

Residents with any doubts about the legitimacy of a contact tracer phone call can hang up and contact the county Health Department, officials said. However, cooperation with legitimate tracers is critical to stopping the coronavirus from spreading, officials cautioned.

A contact tracer might call anyone who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus to check in on their health, discuss who they've been in contact with, and ask them to stay at home to self-isolate.

A contact tracer might also call anyone who has been exposed to a person with the coronavirus, meaning they have been within 6 feet of that person for at least 15 minutes, to inform them that they've been exposed.

Anyone who has been exposed will be asked to stay at home and self-quarantine. Contact tracers will provide additional information regarding testing and how to protect the people they come in contact with.

Burlington County has nine full-time staffers working on contact tracing and 10 volunteers and Rutgers University students. An additional 10 volunteers are in training and are expected to begin tracing cases soon, according to Conaway.

The additional tracers are expected to help with Burlington County’s rising caseload of positive COVID-19 cases, which have risen in recent weeks from an average of 15 a day to about 27 new cases a day over the course of the last week.

“Our Health Department seeks to trace the close contacts of nearly every positive case we learn about. But we’ve started to face some resistance, either from people not accepting calls or refusing to divulge their contacts,” Conaway said. “Some of the resistance is from young people who don’t want to disclose friends they may have been socializing with, but in some cases it’s also older adults who don’t want to be bothered or allow their teenage children to be interviewed. It’s becoming more and more of a problem because these are people who need to be notified and told to get tested and quarantine.”

“There’s so much we still don’t know about this virus, and even young and healthy people can be at risk from COVID-19. But even those that don’t have symptoms can become carriers and transmit the virus to a vulnerable friend, relative or neighbor,” O’Connell said. “It’s why contact tracing is so critical. We need everyone to be aware and accept calls from tracers.”

In addition to cooperating with contact tracers, Conaway said he supports Rep. Andy Kim’s (D-3) call for a nationwide standard for all coronavirus diagnostic test results to be returned within 72 hours.

Kim made the case for the three-day benchmark in a letter to Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Brett Giroir.

“We’ve seen how delays in the return of test results can cause the virus to unknowingly be spread,” Conaway said.

The Burlington County leaders also urged residents to wear masks when in public and to strictly adhere to social-distancing rules and get tested, particularly if they attended a large gathering or traveled to a location on New Jersey’s quarantine list.

Large indoor parties or gatherings have been found to be at the root of several of the new cases of COVID-19 infection being reported.

“These parties have to end. They’re a recipe for not controlling this virus or getting our kids back into school or getting things back to normal,” Conaway said.

See related: NJ Coronavirus, Reopen Updates: Here's What You Need To Know