WYOMING — Recent dramatic increases in Wyoming’s case counts have made it challenging for state and county public health representatives to handle the volume of contact tracing calls. The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) explains what residents should expect for contract tracing activities if they test positive for COVID-19 or are potentially exposed to a person who tests positive.
Contact tracing is a critical step in virus spread detection and prevention. It involves calling people who have tested positive to find out about their activities and also sometimes potential close contacts so they can take action to help prevent further spread of the virus.
“With this pandemic and with other diseases, we consider contract tracing to be one of our most important strategies to slow and limit the progress of a virus,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with WDH. “Overall, it can help protect you and your family and friends from illness and can support your community’s efforts to keep schools and businesses operating.”
Harrist said cooperating with public health representatives and following isolation and quarantine directions remain necessary, as well as getting tested when it is recommended.
“To make the most of our available resources we will focus now on following up in a timely manner with residents who have tested positive. Close contacts may also receive calls at times from public health representatives, but only in certain priority situations and settings,” Harrist said.
“Because not everyone who is identified as a close contact should expect a call from a public health representative for now, we have worked to offer easy-to-understand information available to help people know what to expect and what they should do,” Harrist said.
Documents about testing positive, what to do if exposed to COVID-19, isolation and quarantine can be found from WDH here.
