Digital Tools Adopted by Public Health Agencies to Support COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing, United States, 2020-2021

Surio, Priyanka; McLean, Jody E.; Jain, Ankur; Chughtai, Zeeshawn; Ruebush, Elizabeth; Lane, J. T.; Ali, Hammad; Pina, Jamie

doi:10.1177/00333549221116136

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At least two-thirds of states adopted digital tools to support automation of daily symptom monitoring. 28 …”

Section: Novel Digital Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…32 - 34 Although interoperability across surveillance, case investigation, and contact tracing systems is ideal, 15 most states appeared to have used different platforms for each step in the process, often relying on vendors that had not previously supported public health workflows. 28 …”

Section: Data Integration and Systems Interoperabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Piloted in August 2020 by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and eventually offered in 26 states, the exposure notification mobile application (app) programming interface developed by Google LLC and Apple Inc emerged as a technology to alert smartphone users who had opted to activate the app about potential SARS-CoV-2 exposures, generally before the health department was able to conduct the case interview and elicit close contact names. 27,28 In California, which had the highest public uptake of this technology, app users anonymously notified their potential contacts a median of 4 days after COVID-19 symptom onset or diagnostic testing date. 29 In one state that chose not to offer exposure notification to the public, a university developed its own on-campus proximity technology smartphone app for the 2020-2021 academic year.…”

Section: Exposure Notificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[32][33][34] Although interoperability across surveillance, case investigation, and contact tracing systems is ideal, 15 most states appeared to have used different platforms for each step in the process, often relying on vendors that had not previously supported public health workflows. 28 Several case studies in this supplemental issue of Public Health Reports describe how surveillance coordinators, epidemiologists, and program managers successfully incorporated technology to accommodate and organize the additional workload that COVID-19 generated for their health departments. During Arizona's July 2020 COVID-19 surge, Maricopa County received a median of 1415 positive SARS-CoV-2 test results through the statewide communicable disease database each day, yet 88% of residents with positive test results were contacted by text message within 1 day.…”

Section: Data Integration and Systems Interoperabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Innovative Approaches to COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Until COVID-19, the greatest national public health crisis was the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was covered extensively by Public Health Reports. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Extrapolating from their knowledge of tuberculosis, public health authorities at that time exhorted ill people to remain home to break the chain of respiratory transmission. 7 Other contemporaneous appeals that reverberate a century later include "avoid needless crowding," "stay in the open air," "wear a gauze mask over the nose and mouth," and "keep away from houses where there are influenza cases." 2 In 2020, COVID-19 spurred case investigation and contact tracing at levels never seen in the United States. [8][9][10][11][12] Until vaccines, therapeutics, and SARS-CoV-2 tests became available, mitigation measures were strictly nonpharmaceutical. These included physical distancing, wearing face masks, and enhancing ventilation. In this context, state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments relied on asking people with COVID-19 to isolate and share information about close contacts (ie, case investigation) so that exposed people could be notified and asked to quarantine, ideally before they themselves became infectious (ie, contact tracing). [13][14][15][16][17] This supplemental issue of Public Health Reports provides firsthand examples of how public health departments across the United States reprioritized workflow and redirected staff to accommodate fluctuating COVID-19 incidence during 2020-2021, incorporated new partners to augment case investigation and contact tracing, evolved processes to improve outreach to disproportionately affected community groups, used digital tools for case and contact management and for proximity technology or exposure notification, and evaluated the effectiveness of these innovative strategies.

show abstract

“…At least two-thirds of states adopted digital tools to support automation of daily symptom monitoring. 28 …”

Section: Novel Digital Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Integration and Systems Interoperabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Exposure Notificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Integration and Systems Interoperabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Innovative Approaches to COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…tions (STIs) 1 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic 2 have accelerated technological advances for disease intervention and brought new attention to communicable disease. 3 These events provide an opportunity for public health to reflect on the role of disease intervention in curbing infectious disease transmission and focus on methods to enhance and expand existing disease intervention functions. In addition, substantial federal investment in disease intervention activities makes this an opportune time to develop a more robust and nimble disease intervention workforce.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%