Talk of The Villages Florida - If you get the COVID contact call

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Contact tracing calls

If you receive a message reporting a medical matter after you had a covid test...a general call which asks one to contact the Fl Health Dept....did you get an explanation that you have been exposed? Were you able to speak directly with the Health Dept. regarding the reason for the call “medical matter”.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueash (Post 1799291)

There were 39 new positives reported for Sumter Co today. This is certainly from the increased testing being done as the number of tests was very high. These are nasal swabs thus they represent actively infected and infectious people who are out and about.

I am starting this thread to help people who may get a call from the Health Department understand the process.

When a person has a positive nasal swab they are contacted by the Health Department and asked to give names and contact information for persons they had more than casual contact with. This means they don't list the cashier at Publix or their server at Cody's. Just people where the risk is definitely increased. Of course that doesn't mean the cashier is no risk from the exposure but rather the line has to be drawn somewhere.

The health department will have its tracers call the known contacts. If you receive this call, the tracer does NOT know the name, or the location of your exposure. The only thing the tracer has is that you have been exposed, and the date given by the ill person for their contact with you.

You will be given information on COVID symptoms, even though you probably know them. You will be given information on where you can be tested. If you have symptoms it will be asked that you do get tested but you cannot be forced to be tested. If you have symptoms the medical staff at the Health Dept will do additional contact and follow-up. The tracer will offer to answer your questions but they are NOT giving medical advice and may not even be medically trained people. The only function of the tracer is to inform you of your exposure and determine if at that moment you have any symptoms of COVID. And some minimal precautionary information.

You will be asked to self isolate for 14 days from the date of your last known exposure. If you have any symptoms you will asked to isolate from others in your household not just the public. If you are more than minimally ill you will be advised to see guidance from your own doctor. You will asked about 20 questions to determine your status and whether your situation presents a particular public health risk. For example you were exposed and you work in a nursing home or at the jail.

In Sumter county there is a cell phone text system for follow up. If you agree to being enrolled in the text system you will receive a text every day until your 14 day period ends. It will ask if you have developed any symptoms. You text back Yes meaning you are sick and a person will call you from the Health Dept. If you text back No then you are good for 24 hours. If you do not reply you will be contacted. If you decline the cell phone text you will be called daily.

If you receive a call and believe you are being scammed you can check directly with the Sumter County Health Dept. 352-569-3102

The people lining up for testing are not ill. They may be mildly symptomatic or symptom free. 5% are contagious. Remember that in your daily activities. One of twenty Villagers is actively infectious if the sample of people being tested is representative of the community. Look at the photo on the other news website. There is a photo of our peers, waiting for testing, not social distancing. I can't tell about masks from the picture. But this is representative of who is positive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmcelwee (Post 1800718)

I am not sure if you are asking a general question or about a call someone you know received. If a message is left on your phone asking you to call the Health Dept, as far as I know, the message will NOT leave any disease specific information. Anyone could listen to the message, not just the person for whom it was left. So the call won't say it is about COVID. The suggested wording of the tracing message does not even mention it is from the Health Dept, rather just from the state of Florida. However it is possible that the caller ID may identify the source, I don't know. I do not know the procedure for notifying you about a COVID test result which may be entirely different.

If you wish to directly speak to the Sumter Co Health Dept the phone is

352-569-3102

Once the tracer reaches you the exact date of your known exposure to COVID will be given so you can calculate when your 14 days of isolation ends. Right now the system in Sumter Co is overwhelmed. With the testing this week having been increased so are the number of positives. There were about 40 new positives reported today. Consider that each positive needs to be called and interviewed. They need to be asked to list the names of each close interaction for the last 2 weeks or so and those person's phone numbers. This all is entered into spreadsheets or databases. It is likely each positive person will identify 5 to 10 additional people.

Then those exposed contacts need to be called. So if there are 30 new positives in the county each with 8 contacts you are looking at about 240 people to call per day, by a staff of a few people. Each contact call takes about 15 minutes so it is only likely that 4 contacts will be done per hour if every person answers the call and it goes smoothly. Unfortunately this means that there may be some short delay in getting all the contacts notified.

I should add that the text follow up program is no longer in effect. Instead the tracer will give the contact information on symptoms and advise the person to contact the Health Dept or their private MD if any of those symptoms develop in the 14 day follow up period.

Being tested and found to be infected is not as serious as being DEAD. I do not care about bean counting how many tests came back positive when we all know that tests have a percentage of false positives. When you have thousands of tests and only ONE additional death in the Sumter Co. portion of the Villages, I find that way more important. We haven't even had a dozen deaths attributed to COVID19 in The Villages portion of Sumter Co. I think with the recent addition of one death, it brought the death rate up to 8 or 9 total in Sumter Co. portion of The Villages? Considering that the virus has been running amok for six months, I consider those of us living in the "Bubble" to be very blessed.
Stats are interesting, and tell a story but to find out how this thing affects us, it is important to note how many hospitalizations are related to it and how many subsequent deaths as a result. It is also very important to know exactly how people are affected by it and who has the most resistance to it.

Sorry, I did not mean to imply that the information is not great stuff. It is and thanks.