How does contact tracing work? What to know if you get a call from ‘GA COVID Team’
Georgia health officials are encouraging anyone who receives a call from the “GA COVID Team” to answer and help contribute to tracking and reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Georgia Department of Public Health on Friday released a new video explaining the state’s COVID-19 contact tracing program. The process is an important tool used to monitor and reduce the spread of infections and identify outbreaks early.
Contact tracing begins after a COVID-19 infection is confirmed. State health officials work with the infected patient to locate people they might have come in contact with while they were infectious. The state’s contact tracing program does not use GPS or Bluetooth technology to track residents, officials said.
Basic questions include:
- Where have you been?
- Who were you with?
Those identified contacts are then asked to get tested, monitor their symptoms and stay at home. The goal is to stop COVID-19 from spreading.
Any calls from state health officials will have “GA COVID Team” as the caller ID in an effort to encourage participation.
Contact tracers will never ask for personal information like Social Security numbers, credit card information or citizenship status. Call the DPH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-844-442-2681 to report any suspected scam.
Since May, about 1,300 contact tracers and case investigators have been deployed statewide to interview people who have tested positive for COVID-19. To date, 16,590 COVID-19 positive patients — about 27% of the state’s total cases as of Friday — have been interviewed and 40,082 contacts identified.
“If you don’t pick up the phone, then we can’t alert you and get you the support you need,” said state health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey. “This puts yourself and others at risk of getting sick.”