KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tracking the spread of COVID-19 is an important part of slowing the spread.
You may have heard the health department mention contact tracers. It's a critical job, but what are they and what do they do?
Since the first case of COVID-19, the Tennessee Department of Health has been contact tracing.
"We're confident in our contact tracing process," said Dr. Lisa Piercey during Wednesday's briefing with Governor Bill Lee.
Health department staff identifies and isolates positive cases, then determine who they've interacted with. They then warn those contacts about possibly being exposed.
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Contact tracers will stay in touch with someone for seven to 14 days depending on their exposure.
"There are inherent limitations in that process," said Piercey.
The process requires staff to call almost daily to check in and it's not always easy. Limitations include not getting accurate information, people not answering calls and not getting full responses including hospitalizations.
"We will be cross-referencing this list moving forward to provide real time accuracy in our hospitalization numbers," said Piercey.
So how many contact tracers are in East Tennessee?
Knox County Health Department hasn't identified how many are on their team, but said they don't plan on hiring more.
"One of the recommendations is up to 15 people per 100,000 and we feel like we can meet that measure," said Charity Menefee.
For the 15 counties around Knox, the state's regional health department has well over 30 contact tracers. Not all are from the health department, some are nurses.
Both the regional and Knox County teams are staffed and prepared with the ability to add more if needed.