Madera deputies teaming with health workers in COVID-19 contact tracing

Madera County officials are combining resources from the health department with sheriff’s deputies, probation officials and other agencies in a contact-tracing effort to control the spread of COVID-19 in the far-ranging, largely rural county.

It’s a relatively novel strategy that was adopted early in the fight against the virus, which appears again on the offensive in California. And Madera County officials are sharing concern about more infections as many people begin to mingle in public. As of Thursday, the county reported a total of 383 cases, with five deaths, 241 recovered and 137 active.

The tracing effort, intended to backtrack the patient’s contacts two weeks, teams a county health department nurse with deputies and other county officers to find and notify those who a have been in close contact with the infected person.

The program was developed through the county’s Office of Emergency Services, said Public Health Director Sara Bosse.

“Very early on, we established a unified command to slow the spread of the virus,” she said.

Added Sheriff Tyson Pogue:

“We dedicated resources to rapid contact tracing from the beginning, because we recognized it as an effective way to safeguard Madera County from COVID-19.”

Contact tracing in the field

So far, officials have contacted about 2,100 people through the effort, but as in other areas of the state, officials will be tested as more residents venture into public spaces and social gatherings.

“We have been really happy with the containment program,” said Bosse.

Often a detective has the skills and resources to find contacts, Madera County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sarah Jackson said. However, cell phone data or other methods that would require a judge-issued warrant are not utilized.

Jackson said many deputies are bilingual in English and Spanish, a big asset in a county with many rural workers. Contactees are called by telephone as a nurse and a deputy arrive at a home of an infected person or someone in contact with them. Jackson said they have already been notified of the situation, and there is no physical contact between the team and the person, but a deputy will put a notice on a residence where the contact lives and a nurse will attempt to answer any questions.

The quarantine period is two weeks after the last contact with the infected person.

Bosse said informing someone that they are being placed under quarantine is a sensitive issue. Often, people are “reasonably upset,” about it.

“They have a lot of questions,” she added. “We do our best to answer them.”

Isolation, masks, social distance

After contact, officials keep in touch to gain voluntary compliance and get food and other necessities to those in need. But there are special difficulties for many in Madera County, especially for those living in multi-generational family situations on limited income.

That can mean the entire family becomes exposed, since isolation in a separate room is often not an option. Sometimes, team members try to get a contact to wear a mask in the home, eat separately and stay six feet away from others in the home.

“Realistically, we can’t isolate everyone,” Bosse said, adding that 50 percent of exposures occur within the same household.

Routinely, as contact tracers ascertain where the exposed person has been, they find about 10 percent were exposed in the workplace, but Bosse said public gatherings are increasingly becoming the main exposure source.

This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 12:37 PM.