Overwhelmed Officials Give Up On Contact Tracing

The New York Times reports:

Coronavirus outbreaks in the United States were once traced back to their origins, whether at busy restaurants or crowded meatpacking plants.

But now that the virus is spreading rapidly in much of the country — more than 2,200 U.S. deaths from Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday alone, making it the deadliest day in more than six months — state and local health officials are giving up on contact tracing.

Revealing the trail of transmission from one person to another is a key tool for containing the spread of the coronavirus. Within 48 hours of testing positive, patients receive a phone call from a trained contact tracer, who conducts a detailed interview before hunting down each new person who may have been exposed. That, at least, is how it’s supposed to work.

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