RAPID CITY, S.D. — The South Dakota Department of Health employs contract tracing to identify those exposed to COVID-19 in an effort to reduce the spread.
“It helps us reduce the spread by getting those individuals isolated, in quarantine,” says Cassandra Deffenbaugh, administrator of the Office of Disease Prevention Services for the State of South Dakota.
Once a positive coronavirus case is reported to the DoH, an automated system will contact that person, sending a confidential, secure medical questionnaire to help identify who their close contacts were.
The automated system assisting the DoH as staffing numbers surged to keep up with testing and tracing needs. It also provides them details about when they were infectious.
Despite changing guidance defining “close contact,” the DoH uses “within six feet for a cumulative fifteen minutes in a twenty-four hour period.”
“We had the opportunity this year to – in November actually of this past year – to leverage an automated system that can get people the information right away – they can get the education they need – they can get what their quarantine and isolation periods are right away ,” Deffenbaugh says. “That’s something that we are leveraging even more this year as we automate more of that work.”
The Department of Health uses this information to reach out to organizations that person came in contact with – including schools and universities.
With new proposed language in the RCAS Board meeting agenda calling for the DoH – not the schools – to provide positive case notifications to families, Deffenbaugh says the DoH has been doing contact tracing in schools for years, for reportable diseases – like pertussis.
“Schools have done a great job, too…working with us in notifying parents as well…a lot of times, parents are letting them know ahead of time before we’re aware there’s a positive so they’re working right away to identify those close contacts in many instances,” Deffenbaugh says.
The Department of Health operates a helpline at 1 (800) 997-2880 to provide answers on vaccination questions and testing operations.
Deffenbaugh says the Department of Health will continue to be flexible and adapt as we move into fall.
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