There is a fatal lack of understanding in how contact tracing is being managed in this pandemic.

So I will explain.

John feels unwell on Monday, contacts his GP, gets a swab done.

His positive result gets fed into the National Contact tracing IT system where he enters a queue

He is notified of his result by the first caller. They will also collect the enhanced data about him. This includes chronic disease risk factors etc. The caller advises him that he will shortly receive another call collecting his contacts for the 48 hours before his symptoms.

He goes away to think about who he was in contact with in that time and collects their mobile numbers. A caller will collect these.

John mentions he had a birthday party on Saturday night, invited friends to a restaurant. He also went to work on Monday for a few hours.

He also mentioned that he went to a pub on Sunday for lunch.
The call centre collects basic details on them- basically the name of the businesses and records them as ”complex contacts”. These are tagged in the system for the Department of Public Health For that area to follow up.

In regional Departments of Public Health we watch out for these and deal with them. We call the case and get more details. Then based on that risk assessment we then contact those businesses.

We ask them about their staff, protective measures in place, exposure time etc.

We work out the close contacts from that risk assessment. Often the business has to go away and check logs and get details. It’s complicated and time consuming.

We add these contacts to the national IT system so they will be booked for a follow up call and swabs.

This is the back breaking work we are struggling to get through due to staffing.

I think it’s pretty important.

#respectPHD

I just want to add the "complex" category includes but is not limited to sports training/playing matches, using public transport, being a resident of direct provision/hospital/nursing home, workplaces, public places, schools, colleges etc.

I hope this thread illustrates why both contact tracing centres and regional Public Health departments need staff. The former can give results quickly, the latter to focus on the complex stuff.