COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing in New York City, June 1, 2020, to October 31, 2021.
JAMA Netw Open
; 5(11): e2239661, 2022 11 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2094124
ABSTRACT
Importance Contact tracing is a core strategy for preventing the spread of many infectious diseases of public health concern. Better understanding of the outcomes of contact tracing for COVID-19 as well as the operational opportunities and challenges in establishing a program for a jurisdiction as large as New York City (NYC) is important for the evaluation of this strategy. Objective:
To describe the establishment, scaling, and maintenance of Trace, NYC's contact tracing program, and share data on outcomes during its first 17 months. Design, Setting, andParticipants:
This cross-sectional study included people with laboratory test-confirmed and probable COVID-19 and their contacts in NYC between June 1, 2020, and October 31, 2021. Trace launched on June 1, 2020, and had a workforce of 4147 contact tracers, with the majority of the workforce performing their jobs completely remotely. Data were analyzed in March 2022. Main Outcomes andMeasures:
Number and proportion of persons with COVID-19 and contacts on whom investigations were attempted and completed; timeliness of interviews relative to symptom onset or exposure for symptomatic cases and contacts, respectively.Results:
Case investigations were attempted for 941â¯035 persons. Of those, 840â¯922 (89.4%) were reached and 711â¯353 (75.6%) completed an intake interview (women and girls, 358â¯775 [50.4%]; 60â¯178 [8.5%] Asian, 110â¯636 [15.6%] Black, 210â¯489 [28.3%] Hispanic or Latino, 157â¯349 [22.1%] White). Interviews were attempted for 1â¯218â¯650 contacts. Of those, 904â¯927 (74.3%) were reached, and 590â¯333 (48.4%) completed intake (women and girls, 219â¯261 [37.2%]; 47â¯403 [8.0%] Asian, 98â¯916 [16.8%] Black, 177â¯600 [30.1%] Hispanic or Latino, 116â¯559 [19.7%] White). Completion rates were consistent over time and resistant to changes related to vaccination as well as isolation and quarantine guidance. Among symptomatic cases, median time from symptom onset to intake completion was 4.7 days; a median 1.4 contacts were identified per case. Median time from contacts' last date of exposure to intake completion was 2.3 days. Among contacts, 30.1% were tested within 14 days of notification. Among cases, 27.8% were known to Trace as contacts. The overall expense for Trace from May 6, 2020, through October 31, 2021, was approximately $600 million. Conclusions and Relevance Despite the complexity of developing a contact tracing program in a diverse city with a population of over 8 million people, in this case study we were able to identify 1.4 contacts per case and offer resources to safely isolate and quarantine to over 1 million cases and contacts in this study period.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Contact Tracing
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
JAMA Netw Open
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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