COVID-19 has taken the earth by storm with over 70 million infected and over 1.5 million fatalities. It’s is no laughing matter. What can we do to slow the spread of the disease? Well there are a few things public places like schools do. It’s called Contact Tracing. This is the process that Hancock Place School District uses when someone is infected with Covid-19.

Well here are the people involved with contact tracing at HHS:

Dr. Vogler stated, “This includes Mr. Kelly, Mr. Veldhuizen, and me from HS as well as administrators and directors at the ES, MS, and CO.” 

According to Molly Leech, HPSD Secondary Campus Nurse, the local health department is also involved.

“State and local public health officials decide how it’s implemented,” Leech said.  “The health department, public health professionals, use contact tracing as a tool to help slow the spread of COVID-19.”

Knowing where and when to start is one of the most important parts of the contact tracing protocol. If you don’t know where and when to start, it may lead to more people getting infected.

“We begin the contact tracing immediately following notification of a positive case. It is important to begin this right away in case there are any contacts that would need to be quarantined. It is really important for students and families to communicate with the school right away so that we can ensure the school remains a safe environment for our students and staff”.

So what happens when someone in our school is found to be positive?

Leech stated, “Contact tracers work with the patient to help identify all close contacts during the infectious period. A close contact is identified as someone that was within 6ft of an infectious person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes in a 24 hour period.   Timing is crucial to identify these close contacts; this ensures they do not interact with others to prevent further spread.”

The Covid-19 Contact Tracing Protocol has been very effective so far.

According to Mr. Veldhuizen, “Our process has worked very well so far as there have not been any cases of community spread. This is why we are constantly reminding everyone of the safety protocols we have in place”. Nurse Leech also states “I believe it’s very effective. It breaks the chain of the disease which prevents further transmission.”