On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the appointment of a state contact tracing czar as the commonwealth implements a new contact tracing program.
Contact tracing, funded with $112 million through the CARES Act, is expanding in Kentucky to meet the White House and Beshear’s benchmarks for safely reopening the commonwealth’s economy.
(Contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have come into contact with an infected person, and subsequent collection of information about the contacts. By tracing the contacts of infected individuals, testing them for infection, treating the infected and tracing their contacts in turn, public health officials aim to reduce infections in the population.)
The governor, at his daily coronavirus (COVID-19) briefing, announced the appointment of Mark Carter as the executive adviser leading the contact tracing efforts in the Office of the Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS).
“We are excited to have Mark leverage his vast Kentucky health care experience to lead COVID-19 contact tracing. His leadership, along with the team at the Department for Public Health and Kentuckians’ support, will help protect the health and safety of more Kentucky families,” the governor said.
Carter, who is a CPA and has 40 years experience in the healthcare industry, will work closely with Department for Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack and public health staff, according to state officials.
“I do sincerely appreciate the opportunity to serve the commonwealth in this capacity,” Carter said. “I have long been an admirer of our state Department for Public Health and the local health departments and the work they do every day that is completely unsung. We must reopen the economy, but we have to protect our children, our families and friends from another outbreak of COVID-19, and we do that through contact tracing.”
Carter said the state’s expanded, seven-month contact tracing program combines public participation and the power of technology to help public health officials and healthcare providers contain the spread of COVID-19.
He noted information gathered is kept private and confidential. Information regarding individuals who have COVID-19 and people they have made in-person contact with recently are not released or made public.
“Contact tracing is not new, it was used to help eradicate smallpox and is commonly used today to contain tuberculosis and other infections. It makes sense to use the same tools and technology to contain COVID-19,” Carter said. “Kentucky residents will be contacted if they have been exposed to an individual testing positive for COVID-19, to give instructions on how to self-quarantine and help reduce the spread to other individuals.”
Public communications, including posters, videos, PSAs and social media campaigns, will help Kentuckians understand contact tracing and what to do if a public health worker contacts them.
Carter pointed out Kentuckians’ role in contact tracing, which includes knowing that:
- Public health workers may reach out to those who have contracted COVID-19 to assess their situation and track any recent in-person contacts.
- Contacts will be notified that they may have been exposed to COVID-19, are provided instructions and connected to local resources.
- By following instructions provided, contacts help stop the spread of COVID-19 and save the lives of Kentuckians.
- Helping to communicate the importance of contact tracing, you are supporting bringing people back to work and reopening Kentucky’s economy.
“We are going to hire about 700 people and we will have to deploy these folks very effectively to help contain the infection,” Dr. Stack said. Contact tracing is the way we get back to as much as possible what normal used to be like. Contact tracing is the way we act very quickly to localize infection to keep it from spreading and enable us to get back to interacting with each other as much as we can.”
On May 1, a request for proposal (RFP) was posted for prospective vendors to fulfill staffing for three job classifications: disease investigators, contact tracers and social support connectors.
(Photo: Mark Carter, courtesy of LEX18.com)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
