How SF Plans to Track Every COVID-19 Case
San Francisco Launches Innovative Contact Tracing Program to Strengthen Coronavirus Response
Technology will enable swifter communication, better data tracking, and improved interventions to reduce further spread. Collaboration with UCSF will provide a model for communities nationwide in strengthening pandemic response infrastructure.
Mayor London N. Breed and Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax announced today an innovative new program to identify Bay Area residents who have been exposed to coronavirus and give them access to the testing and resources needed to keep themselves and their communities safe.
The new contact tracing program will use technology to dramatically expand San Francisco’s ability to find and connect with individuals who may be close contacts of a person with a confirmed case of coronavirus. This capability will strengthen the City’s response to the pandemic, by allowing for swifter communication, better data tracking, and stronger interventions to reduce further spread.
The new program, which is currently in a testing phase, will augment current case investigation and contact tracing work. It already has contributed to San Francisco’s efforts by contacting people who are close contacts and providing them with information about how to prevent further exposure.
How SF’s Contact Tracing Will Work
San Francisco’s new program will engage with individuals who test positive for COVID-19 to identify whom they have had contact with in recent days. Specially trained outreach workers will then follow up remotely with any individuals who may have been in contact with the COVID-positive patient. These conversations will be voluntary, confidential, and culturally and linguistically appropriate. Immigration status will have no bearing on these conversations.
Case contacts will be able to receive daily text messages or phone calls checking in on their health and symptoms throughout the 14-day monitoring period. They can self-report symptoms via text, immediately alerting public health officials that follow up or testing may be required.
The new program will amass an unprecedented number of personnel to respond immediately by phone and text across the city, and potentially the region, whenever there is a newly confirmed case, in order to take immediate action to prevent the spread among contacts as much as possible. This capability will enable the City to move forward after the shelter in place order is lifted.
