American Press

Contact tracing in Louisiana isn’t working as well as it could, but health experts say it should continue. Those doing the tracing are supposed to speak with people infected with the coronavirus as soon as they test positive, find out whom they’ve been in contact with and warn those people to self-quarantine.

The Advocate reported Sunday that delays in test results are making it nearly impossible for contact tracers to do their work effectively. In many cases, positive test results take as long as a week to return. By that time the virus may have already left the sick person’s system and infected several new people.

John Barry, a New Orleans historian who wrote “The Great Influenza,” a best-seller about the 1918 flu pandemic, said slow test results, high numbers of positive cases and high rates of community spread all frustrate effective contact tracing. Still, he, public health officials and contact tracers all say having a contact tracing system that’s isn’t keeping up is still better than having no system at all.

The newspaper said when infected people answer their phones, nearly three-fourths of them still aren’t providing the names of close contacts that they may have infected. However, it added that more people are now talking to tracers than when the effort first started.

Tracers are now reaching 69 percent of the people they target. Of those they have contacted, 27 percent have not answered or returned calls, while 4 percent have flatly declined to answer questions.

Contractors who are supervising the contact tracing said they have adjusted the way they work in hopes of reaching more people and making them feel more comfortable.

One contractor urged people to learn the contact tracer phone numbers. The tracers call from (877) 766-2130 and they text from (225) 396-5389. He said it is state citizens calling fellow citizens, “your neighbor, the person down the street — we’re just trying to get information we need to protect people and to give proper notice that they’ve been exposed.”

Tracing worked well for a Metairie man. He got tested, received a positive result and heard from a contact tracer, all within the span of five days in late June. Tracers quickly followed up with his wife, and he received daily messages from contact tracers checking in afterward.

Contacts tracing isn’t new and it has been extremely effective in the past. We encourage everyone contacted to provide any information they can in order to help protect as many people as possible from COVID-19.