Officials focus on contact tracing, testing capacity

OLYMPIA — Secretary John Wiesman of the Washington State Department of Health said Tuesday that over 1,500 people will be trained to conduct phone interviews and track down individuals who may have come into close contact with individuals infected with COVID-19, in a practice known as “case contact tracing.”

Gov. Jay Inslee and public health officials agree that case contact tracing will be a key component of slowing the spread of the virus as restrictions on public activity are rolled back. It works by interviewing newly confirmed COVID-19 patients and identifying individuals with whom they may have come into close enough contact to spread the disease, so those individuals can be notified to self-isolate.

Wiesman said next week 300 volunteers and 150 National Guard members will be trained and equipped to handle the contact tracing case work.

Public Health Officer Kathy Lofy, with the Department of Health, said at the Tuesday briefing that the epidemiological curve of confirmed coronavirus cases per day suggests that COVID-19 activity peaked in mid-March as the data indicates a downward trend. Lofy said the state is still recording 200 to 300 new COVID-19 cases per day, which she described as being “still a very high burden of disease” for the health care system and the public.

She noted that the state saw an uptick in testing capacity within the last week or so but said the state’s testing capacity will need to be “quite a bit higher” in the future.

Reed Schuler, adviser to the governor, said testing gives researchers the “best eyes on the infection itself” and will be another large component to a safe recovery in addition to case contact tracing. Schuler estimated the state needs to triple its daily testing capacity as it gradually reopens.

He said the governor and his team have been planning and putting effort into a robust expansion of COVID-19 testing in the state. Including the utilization of multiple methods of testing and an expanded use of available laboratories. The biggest obstacles to procuring the right materials and equipment for testing has been the limited number of manufacturers of specific items and the high global demand for these items.

Schuler said the governor wants to have the capacity for rapid, accurate and accessible testing for everyone in the state, regardless of the county they live in.