https://twitter.com/AkivaMCohen/status/1263691050528452608
1/ I replied briefly before, but I think a more detailed explanation about contract tracing might clarify some things up for people as well as make clear why the idea that contract tracing violates your rights is ridiculous.

2/ I feel qualified to give this answer because I just finished the contract tracing course from John Hopkins, which, along with a bit of state specific stuff from county and state health departments, is all the training that the vast majority of volunteers will receive.

3/Terminology
Case: is someone who has been confirmed via testing to be infected with COVID-19 (in almost all cases a PCR test)

Contact: someone who had exposure to a case while the case was infectious.

4/ Exposure: Any of these:
-touched bodily secretions of a case and did not immediately wash hands
-physical contact with a case
-within 6 feet of a case for more than 15 minutes
-further than 6 feet from a case, but in the same room for a prolonged period of time

5/
Infectious period: when a case is infectious e.g., for COVID-19, that's two days before one starts feeling sick to ten days afterward or three days after you've, unaided by meds, have not had a fever and your other symptoms are improving, whichever is longer.

6/
Isolation Period: The length of time a case must isolate, which is equivalent to the time they are infectious.
Quarantine Period: two weeks after your most recent exposure. If you live with a case, that means two weeks after their isolation period ends.

7/ Contract tracing is the backbone of infectious disease control. Public Health departments do it constantly for STIs, TB, etc. It is not something invented for this pandemic.

Aggressive contact tracing is how South Korea has been successful so far suppressing COVID-19 for ex

8/ Mandatory Quarantining and Isolation:
While public health departments do possess the power to force someone to isolate or quarantine, its largely irrelevant for several reasons.

First, volunteers wouldn't be the ones enforcing or ordering this.

9/ Second, the state does not have the manpower to force thousands of confirmed infected cases to isolate to say nothing of the arbitrary number of contacts a single case might have. Compliance, except perhaps certain high risk situations, will be solely voluntary.

10/ In regards to privacy concerns. Contact tracers aren't allowed to identify a case in any way to a contact (so we won't tell them where exposure occurred or who had it).

Contract tracers are legally forbidden to use any information obtained for non contract tracing purposes.

/10 For ex, if you volunteer that you're undocumented (we won't ask), we might only suggest support services that don't require proof of legal status to obtain or to inform how we talk to contacts who might be more reticent to speak to us, but not a word to ICE no matter what.

/11 If you were exposed while cheating, your SO won't learn about your infidelity from us. We won't even tell you that is how you were exposed.

If we personally know a case, we can't talk to them outside of the process (we are encouraged to let another tracer handle it).

/12 Even other contract tracers or your supervisors won't know the identity of a case or contact unless it is necessary, and when they are discussed, (where possible via secure media) they will only be referred to by number.

/13 A basic contract trace case looks like this:

You suspect that you have COVID-19 and get a test. It comes back positive and the local and/or state department of health is notified (HIPAA permits PHI to be shared with public health authorities if needed to prevent disease).

/14 A contact tracer will contact you

We will identify ourselves and then confirm your identify (address, name, DOB).

Once that is done we inform you of your positive result (you may or may not have already been informed of this).

We will then ask about your symptoms.

/15 In the event you mention signs of a severe infection: (shortness of breath, blue lips, constant chest pain, confusion, etc) we will instruct you to seek urgent care immediately.

/16 If you don't have these symptoms, we will ask the symptoms you do have. We will ask when you first started feeling sick so we can calculate the period when you are infectious (asymptomatic cases caught by mandatory or random testing greatly complicate things).

/17 We will ask you where you've been and about anyone you may have exposed while infectious. If we learn of a high risk situation (you work at a nursing home for ex) we might escalate things to a supervisor who will generally be an employee of the local health department.

/18 We will ask for info (Name, phone number and address if known) you may have exposed. We will then tell you for how long you need to isolate (although any sort of commanding is discouraged as it can impair rapport). If you say that you don't think you can isolate,

/19 we may ask why and then suggest potential services (perhaps you need someone to pick up medication for or you don't have a place you can isolate and require housing , or you are in a domestic violence situation and need a safe place to stay) that will enable you to isolate.

/20 we might instruct you to take you temperature each day or, if available, to list your current symptoms each day into an app or other types of self-monitoring.

/21 We will inform you we'll be checking in regularly make sure you understand what it means to isolate and answer any other questions you might have. Then we'll end the call. It will typically 20-30 minutes for the entire call, but might be longer if there are complications.

/22 After we end the call, as quickly as possible, we will try to determine which contacts meet the requirements for exposure and call them in term. We will advise them that they have have exposed to an infected person.

/23 We will ask them how they are feeling (potentially informing them to seek urgent care if they have signs or symptoms of a severe infection). Tell them what it means to quarantine and how long they need to do so based on date of exposure.

/24 We will answer any questions they might have (for both contacts and cases if someone has a medical question, we will direct them to ask a doctor since we aren't qualified). And then inform them we will be following up regularly.

/25 And that is roughly what a basic contract and trace will look like. And that's why the idea that contract tracing is authoritarian and violates your constitutional rights is ridiculous.

/26 You are saying that it is unconstitutional if:
-someone calls you
-someone asks you questions
-someone takes notes of what you are saying
-someone suggests that you do something i.e., quarantine or isolate.

/27 Under this standard phone banking is unconstitutional. Helping someone troubleshoot something over the phone is unconstitutional. Talking to an attorney is unconstitutional. It is just absurd.

I apologize for typos, I was too lazy to proof and frustratingly, you can't edit tweets in place. If you are interested in learning more, here is the link to the John Hopkins course. It is free. https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing?edocomorp=covid-19-contact-tracing