Bartholomew County to take over most contact tracing

Bartholomew County will be taking over contact tracing duties for COVID-19 again.

The tracing work had previously been taken over by the state. Amanda Organist with the county health department, said that the state is unable to keep up with the COVID-19 contact tracing and has requested the work fall to the counties again. She said that each positive case requires contacting the patient and going through about an 11-page questionnaire that attempts to identify details of their case including onset times and who the patient may have been in close contact with.

The contact tracer then has to follow up with those who had been in close contact. The goal is to identify and limit the possible spread of the disease. She said each case takes about 45 minutes per patient.

Bartholomew County Commissioners yesterday approved a six-month contract with a worker who would do the contract tracing for the county. The county expects to have the expenses for the work be reimbursed from CARES Act funding.