As COVID cases surge, local contact tracing efforts are strained in Iowa

The current coronavirus surge has become so widespread that it already is overwhelming local health departments’ contact tracing efforts.

Linn and Johnson County public health departments say they currently are working to ramp up their contact tracing capacities as the virus becomes more widespread, but the sudden increase in new cases has led to delays in the process, officials say.

“This delta variant has changed the game,” said Heather Meador, clinical services supervisor at Linn County Public Health.

In addition to the highly contagious variant, local public health officials say they are noticing exposures to positive cases have become more widespread as more businesses reopen and schools begin to return to in-person learning.

“When we’re looking at the amount of contacts, infected individuals have a lot more in this point in time,” said Sam Jarvis, community health division manager at Johnson County Public Health.

Some residents have begun to notice a shift in that outreach.

Harley Atchison is a 21-year-old University of Iowa senior who was exposed to a positive COVID-19 case on Aug. 11 during a trip to New York. She received a call from a contact tracer in New York, whom Atchison said went through an extensive questionnaire with her, even though she had tested negative on Aug. 16.

However, Atchison said she didn’t receive a call from a Johnson County contact tracer until almost two weeks after she was exposed.

“I find it a bit worrying about the future of Iowa,” Atchison said. “As fall and winter draws closer, with people inside more, I’m concerned the testing and tracing would be overwhelmed.

“There’s not a lot of faith it will get any better.”

State adjusted contact tracing protocols ahead of surge

Public health officials and health care providers paint a dire picture facing the state as vaccination rates have stagnated while new coronavirus infections have surged this month across the state.

The state public health department on Wednesday confirmed 42 Iowans died as a result of COVID-19 between July 24 and Aug. 22.

There also has been an alarming increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Eastern Iowa hospitals over the past two weeks, officials said earlier this week. Projections show that the need for intensive-care beds across the state will peak at nearly 300 beds in late September, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, based at the University of Washington.

However, even as cases increase, public health departments in some counties have chosen to scale back contact tracing due to stretched staff.

Earlier this month, the state public health department announced it no longer would conduct routine contact tracing for all reported COVID-19 cases, instead adjusting surveillance to follow its influenza model. Case investigation will focus on long-term care facility outbreaks and vulnerable populations.

The state has closed the Test Iowa program and introduced free at-home testing kits that can be sent directly to residents.

As of this week, 73,998 kits have been requested, Iowa Department of Public Health spokeswoman Sarah Ekstrand said. She added that 9,064 have been “activated” and 7,450 have been sent back to the lab.

All positive and negative test results still are required to be reported to public health.

“Just like with other public health activities, these efforts will be continuously evaluated and adjusted as needed,” Ekstrand said.

Linn, Johnson counties maintain same contact tracing protocols

Officials at Linn and Johnson public health agencies say they are dedicated to calling individuals who test positive and notifying anyone who may have been exposed in a timely manner.

However, Linn County’s Meador said the staff often face barriers in notifying individuals because they may not pick up the phone or heed their warnings.

“At some point in time, things may change, but we continue to follow up on these positive cases,” Meador said. “We feel it’s important individuals know about their illness and how to keep themselves healthy when they’re convalescing.”

The recent surge in coronavirus cases is a major shift from the trend local public health officials were seeing earlier this summer. Throughout June and into early July, local public health departments largely had been scaling down their contact tracing efforts as case counts continued to drop and COVID-19 vaccines became widely available.

After 16 months of working every day of the week, July 2021 marked the first time contact tracers at Johnson County Public Health no longer needed to work weekend shifts, Jarvis said.

But then the situation changed, and local agencies once again are working to increase their contact tracing staff.

“It’s not the way we wanted this to go,” Jarvis said.

Guidance for people who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19

Here are the recommendations for individuals who have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. A person is considered a close contact if they were within six feet for at least 15 minutes of someone who has COVID-19.

If you are unvaccinated:

If you are fully vaccinated:

Public health officials continues to encourage all Iowans to get vaccinated. All residents, even those who are fully vaccinated, also should wear masks in public and practice social distancing when possible.

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