Daniella Tebib
News Editor
dtebib@murraystate.edu
Updated on Sept. 4 at 1:45 p.m.
After testing positive for COVID-19, members of the community have reported they have not been asked about contact tracing from the Calloway County Health Department.
Chelsea, a Calloway County resident, tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 17 after spending time with her parents who later found out they had contracted the virus.
At first, Chelsea thought she only had a cold because of the few symptoms she had, but as soon as her mom called to tell her she tested positive, Chelsea got tested at the Murray-Calloway County Hospital and quarantined while awaiting her results.
After quarantining for four days, Chelsea received a call from the hospital informing her that she tested positive for COVID-19. When she was called, she was only asked if she was showing any symptoms and if she had been in contact with anyone who had contracted the virus.
Chelsea was questioned about her symptoms by the hospital to fill out forms required by state and federal law. However, the Calloway County Health Department did not ask her for any information that would be needed for contact tracing. The health department is responsible for all investigative needs for contact tracing.
“They did not ask my parents’ names or contact information,” Chelsea said. “They didn’t mention anything to me about contact tracing. I told them that I had been at work the week prior and that I was sure that I had already contracted the virus looking back because my ‘cold’ symptoms had been around for almost two weeks at this point. They did not ask where I worked or for the information of my coworkers.”
Chelsea also said she was never asked to contact anyone about her COVID-19 test results, but she felt it was her responsibility to inform those she had been in contact with previously.
“The only information I was given was to wait 10-14 days from my first symptom and then I would be good to come out of quarantine because I would no longer be contagious, even though if I was to be tested it could come back positive for the next three months,” Chelsea said.
Chelsea also received a letter from the Calloway County Courthouse stating a list of things she was prohibited from doing until she was done quarantining, such as leaving her house without permission from the health department and visiting the hospital without calling the health department. If she violated these rules, she could be taken to court.
Chelsea said overall the health department was very helpful and nice to her personally, but she doesn’t feel like they were concerned with her ability to spread the virus.
Kim Paschall, director of Calloway County Health Department, said when a healthcare provider is notified of a positive COVID-19 result, the provider is supposed to call the patient and notify the local health department. Then a disease investigator should call the patient who tested positive, provide isolation instructions and obtain contact information for those the patient has been in close contact with.
“A close contact is someone who has been exposed 1-2 days before symptoms onset to the positive person, within 6 feet, for more than 15 minutes,” Paschall said. “Close contacts, based on what the positive patient has reported, will be notified and instructed what to do.”
Chelsea said she informed the health department that she had been going to work while she was experiencing symptoms, but they did not ask her for the contact information of her workplace.
Nicholas O’Dell, chief medical officer at the Murray-Calloway County Hospital, and Jeff Eye, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care, joined Matt Johnson, lead pastor of Journey Church, during a livestream on For Calloway’s Facebook page on Monday, Aug. 31. O’Dell and Eye answered questions from both Johnson and those viewing the livestream.
One of the questions Johnson asked O’Dell and Eye was regarding contact tracing in Calloway County.
Eye said the health department has seven to eight people available to handle contact tracing for all of Calloway County, including Murray State students. University-related cases are investigated and handled the same as other Calloway County residents. The majority of contact tracing is conducted by the Calloway County Health Department nursing staff.
“Contact tracing is only as good as the person giving the information,” O’Dell said. “If I don’t give them that information, they don’t know because the health department has a very large task of contacting each individual person, and you know, they were really busy last week contacting people. If you’re not truthful, it’s not going to work, so just like, you know, not wearing a mask is selfish, not being truthful with where you’ve been is also selfish because the people that have been around you need to know so they can take appropriate actions of staying home, not just wearing their masks which is what they were already doing hopefully, but they need to stay home and that period of time is up to two weeks of limiting that public contact.”
The contact tracers are under the responsibility of local health departments. But, some local health departments utilize the regional contact tracing team under the guidance of the Kentucky Department for Public Health.
Paschall said contact tracing is not a new concept for the health department. Local health departments are required to contact trace for several infectious diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV, tuberculosis, salmonella, campylobacter and several more. However, contact tracing is in a higher demand than normal.
“Since a pandemic of this nature has not occurred in over 100 years, healthcare professionals are facing challenges that are unprecedented,” Paschall said.
As of press time, the total number of cases in Kentucky has increased to 49,991, resulting in 966 deaths. In Calloway County specifically, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has reached 419 with 13 new cases, 373 recoveries, 35 isolated at home, three hospitalizations and eight deaths.
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