NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New York City's contact tracers reportedly helped prevent up to 4,000 coronavirus cases across the five boroughs.
Dr. Ted Long, who is leading the tracing effort, told WABC that the over 3,000 tracers have helped isolate more than 1,300 symptomatic people in the city.
That may have prevented as many as 4,000 new cases in the city, Long said.
"Successful contact tracing is a key way we are going to keep the virus suppressed," Long said, adding that the virus could return more quickly without the effort.
At his Friday briefing, Mayor Bill de Blasio credited contact tracing, as well as widespread testing, with helping keep coronavirus cases on a downward trend.
The mayor also said the actions of New Yorkers, including wearing masks and social distancing, also played a major role.
"New Yorkers learned powerful lessons and then they really owned those lessons—in terms of wearing face coverings, in terms of social distancing," de Blasio said.
The mayor and his senior health adviser, Dr. Jay Varma, also said it was "very unlikely" that herd immunity played a role in keeping the cases down.
Varma said the most likely explanation for the city's current success is a combination of "defensive strategies," such as social distancing, face coverings and good hygiene, as well as "offensive strategies" like testing and contact tracing.
New York City has recorded 215,598 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began. There were just 62 new confirmed cases on Thursday, the latest day data is available for.
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