Higher percentage of people with COVID-19 in Tucson area report going to restaurants, bars | Local news

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“Paradoxically, contact tracking may actually be more important as it progresses,” said Dr. Joe Gerald, Associate Professor in the University of Arizona College of Public Health.

There were just too many cases weeks and months ago, he said. Contact tracers could not find every lead as cases occurred everywhere.

He explained that there is greater capacity to conduct effective contact tracing in a timely manner when case numbers decline.

“With that in mind, however, I do not believe that contact tracing and case studies for this particular disease have the same public health benefits as they do for some other diseases such as tuberculosis or sexually transmitted infections,” said Gerald.

Certain features of COVID-19 make it inherently harder to trace and isolate, he said. For example, with the virus that causes COVID-19, much of the risk of transmission occurs before a carrier realizes they’re sick, and up to half of the carriers are asymptomatic.

How unsafe is it for contract tracers to report that a higher percentage of people with COVID-19 have walked into restaurants, bars, or events?

“Well, I mean, we just got through a huge, devastating eruption, so we’re orders of magnitude better today,” said Gerald. “I think the fact that our improvements have stalled and may be reversing a little is a cause for concern, but not an alarm.”

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