Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - With Western New York nearing meeting all of the state’s metrics for reopening, adding contact tracers in the region is the last remaining obstacle before phase one can begin.
It had appeared that the region had met the requirement for contact tracers and was ready to reopen, but that notion was shut down. The metric is no longer simply based on population.
“There was an adjustment upward in terms of how many contact tracers we would need,” Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul told WBEN on Monday. “We though we had the numbers, but (the new adjustment) is based on the infection rate.”
“We have asked all five counties in Western New York to give us the names of all the people who have been trained on this four-hour class online,” Hochul said. “They were doing it all weekend… and I believe that we will be able to hit that number.”
Existing county employees who have not been working in another capacity doing the pandemic are being trained to become contact tracers.
How do contact tracers help stop the spread of Coronavirus?
“Once we have someone that had tested positive… when we have contact tracing to identify all the close contacts of that person it can limit the spread,” said Dr. Joseph Chow, Medical Director at WNY Immediate Care.
“People who have been in close contact with (someone who tests positive), they’re identified and requested to be alert for symptoms and potentially isolate themselves for up to 14 days.”
Chow said that similar contact tracing helped recently contain the measles outbreak.