Tracing Local Covid Cases
Maplewood has been tracing contacts when new cases are identified. I would doubt they'd make that information public unless they determined any trends and/or hot spots the public should know.
i don't see how it could be public, beyond maybe identifying a public place where there was contact with various people. I recently found out I may have been exposed early on. A friend of a close friend tested positive for anti bodies. The friend's wife and 8 month baby were very sick with flu like symptoms around February 1. The friend had been asymptotic. My close friend may have been exposed by his friend....and then could have exposed me. While the risk is low, I am not willing to go to a facility (and risk exposure) to be tested to see if I have anti bodies yet.....if they come out with a free home test I will do that. Friend and close friend commuted by train/subway to NYC. I am disabled and mostly home bound....so not likely I picked it up anywhere else.....at some point in the future if I have a need to go to a doctor, i will see if I can get tested for free for anti bodies...even if you have anti bodies, you still need to take precautions as immunity is not understood, so it doesn't matter much if I did have it months ago...
the friend rides the raritan valley line.
Hong Kong has stronger privacy rules than the US and that hasn't prevented posting detailed information about where Covids infected people have travelled, shop locally, or live. The US just has a mindset about "liberty" that contains all definitions of liberty other than the liberty to live without disease and infection.
Contact tracking has been done in Maplewood since the first case was identified. Purpose is to limit spread of infection by identifying and notifying those who may have been infected so they can take necessary steps such as self isolation and monitoring for symptoms.
That's disappointing that the tracing results are so isolated to the people being traced. We can't provide any commonality among the positive cases. Useful elements would be, did this person work from home, section of town & frequently visited locations.
jamie said:
That's disappointing that the tracing results are so isolated to the people being traced. We can't provide any commonality among the positive cases. Useful elements would be, did this person work from home, section of town & frequently visited locations.
NYS tried that with a sample of those who tested positive for antibodies. They found that a surprising number had been self-isolating at home for months.
As to people claiming to have been self-isolating, when I mentioned that to a biologist friend, she asked me if I ever watched the TV show “House,” which I did. Then she reminded me, “Never forget what Dr. House always said: Everybody lies.”
yes - that was really interesting. Were there any other commonalities with the self isolating group? I'll have to look that up.
Also - self isolating people probably go shopping on in awhile. Were they wearing facemasks when they did go out.
they can't say infected person was in stop and shop on April 31 (using a fake date on purpose) from 2-3pm...that would just cause panic...contact tracing is about identifying specific people who were contacted...and only IF there is a specific hotspot would the location be identified.
at this point, with no large gatherings..at least not legally as well as masks and social distancing, we shouldn't be having hot spots
if for some reason it is traced back to a crowded space where social distancing/mask wearing wasn't done...then the location probably should be identified.
maybe for example, a mail carrier or UPS driver is infected...then everyone on their route should be notified..but for most cases, there will be no significant community contact.
as it is, people are being ridiculously paranoid...like the one who complained about me sitting on residential property with no one else around because I wasn't wearing a mask. I saw a FB post about a woman having a melt down because the local grocery store wasn't checking customer temperatures and because someone sneezed in the store...and she felt people should be 15 feet apart...
being too detailed will feed the paranoia. about a week ago, a neighbor down the block was walking her dog, and realized she forget a bag, I walked up to her and handed her a bag..sure it crossed my mind that I was less than 6 feet...but I was also rational...the ridiculous people would have had a melt down in that situation.
somewhere around 2% of the population has tested positive...add the false negatives and those that couldn't get tested and the ones that are asymptotic....it could be that about 1% of the population is contagious at any given time (many of those that were positive early on have recovered and are no longer contagious.
In a town with 20K people (MW has about 23K), about 200 may be infected at any given time...with 100 not even knowing they are carrying the germ....if they go to a store 1x/week each on average..figure on average there are about 14 infected people per day in stop and shop or kings or another essential store....
so chances are you are and have been crossing paths with someone who is carrying the germ...and don't need to be told there was someone in Shoprite....there were numerous people in SR with the germ.....that is a given.
(i am just throwing these numbers out...don't think there is an exact figure....)
joan_crystal said:
jamie said:
That's disappointing that the tracing results are so isolated to the people being traced. We can't provide any commonality among the positive cases. Useful elements would be, did this person work from home, section of town & frequently visited locations.
NYS tried that with a sample of those who tested positive for antibodies. They found that a surprising number had been self-isolating at home for months.
It was a very poorly designed study. They asked people if they were going to work or sheltering at home but didn't ask about their other habits such as shopping, wearing mask/not wearing mask, socializing, etc.
Have there been any studies that have revealed clear patterns as to how and where people have contracted Covid-19? I haven't seen anything - I guess it simply spreads person to person for the most part.
I did sign up to be a tracer in NJ, but never heard anything back - has anyone else signed up?
I filled out the form the first day NJ was taking inquiries, then learned the next day that they’d had 21,000 reach out to fill an estimated 1,000 posts. Never even got a robo response. NY is looking strictly for formal science backgrounds, which would disqualify me, but NJ didn’t list those stipulations. To me, it’s more important to have it be people who excel at interviewing people and at getting them to share personal information, and who are really good at note-taking.
Heynj said:
I filled out the form the first day NJ was taking inquiries, then learned the next day that they’d had 21,000 reach out to fill an estimated 1,000 posts. Never even got a robo response. NY is looking strictly for formal science backgrounds, which would disqualify me, but NJ didn’t list those stipulations. To me, it’s more important to have it be people who excel at interviewing people and at getting them to share personal information, and who are really good at note-taking.
Aw, shucks! I was about to ask who is doing the tracing and if there was a way I could help. Guess a lot of people thought of that before me.
If anyone knows of local opportunities to help, please post here or PM me.
Stay well everyone!
https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing/home/info
Since school work for me has been canceled for the summer and the fall schedule has been cut in half, I'm looking for something to do. I don't know if there are any organizations doing active tracing around here but I took this course as initial preparation for joining that effort. It's a free course and it gives you a fair bit of beginner's insight into what tracing involves, at least according to this Johns Hopkins prof.
It appears New Jersey cannot keep pace with what needs doing....
bikefixed said:
I don't know if there are any organizations doing active tracing around here but I took this course as initial preparation for joining that effort. It's a free course and it gives you a fair bit of beginner's insight into what tracing involves, at least according to this Johns Hopkins prof.
I have yet to hear from anyone after a couple of weeks of checking around but NJ is trying to ramp up. Here are two links for more info.
https://manage.covid19.nj.gov/home/
https://twp.millburn.nj.us/civicalerts.aspx?aid=844
Just curious to know if this has been done - if so, will tracing results be public in any way? I would love to know if anyone who has had it could track where or who they may have picked it up from. Or if there was any common link.