Emerging Infectious Diseases (Feb 2024)

Adapting COVID-19 Contact Tracing Protocols to Accommodate Resource Constraints, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 2021

  • Seonghye Jeon,
  • Lydia Watson-Lewis,
  • Gabriel Rainisch,
  • Chu-Chuan Chiu,
  • François M. Castonguay,
  • Leah S. Fischer,
  • Patrick K. Moonan,
  • John E. Oeltmann,
  • Bishwa B. Adhikari,
  • Hannah Lawman,
  • Martin I. Meltzer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3002.230988
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 2
pp. 333 – 336

Abstract

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Because of constrained personnel time, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (Philadelphia, PA, USA) adjusted its COVID-19 contact tracing protocol in summer 2021 by prioritizing recent cases and limiting staff time per case. This action reduced required staff hours to prevent each case from 21–30 to 8–11 hours, while maintaining program effectiveness.

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