ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Contact tracing helps slow the spread of the coronavirus if it can be done in a timely fashion.
The state health department director in St. Johns County is telling the county commission it needs more contact tracers and more money to hire them -- nearly $2 million more.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jacqueline Evans is a psychology professor at Florida International University.
She is researching ways to improve contact tracing by developing the right questions to help people with COVID-19 better recall who they have been around. Then, contact tracers can track down those folks, before they infect others.
"Contact tracing tries to stop that chain of events from going forward," Evans said.
However, funding is an issue.
Dr. Dawn Allicock, the state health department director in St. Johns County, told county commissioners this week that the department needs $1.9 million to hire 50 more contact tracers to do the job. She said there are 30 contact tracers right now in the county.
County commissioners agree the need is there. But Commissioner Jimmy Johns wondered why the state isn’t directly funding the state health department’s needs.
During Tuesday's meeting, Johns said, "What are we doing in the middle of this conversation? That's what I’m trying to figure out when the state is managing this and controlling it and is the expert to execute it."
The commission agreed to discuss the issue again at next week's meeting.
The contact tracing interviewing is currently conducted "over the phone," Evans said.
Her research would help expedite the contact tracing process by developing an effective online questionnaire for patients.
"So that the contact tracer can get off the phone a little bit faster and make their next phone call," Evans said. "It also means people can do this at a time and place that works for them."
Her research has not been applied yet to any contact tracing program.
"We’d be happy to partner with any public health agencies who would like to work with us," Evans said.