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Contact tracers from the canton of Zurich at work in Pfäffikon ZH. Image: keystone
Visit to the Contact Tracing Center in Zurich: “The super ideal route is no longer possible”
Contact tracing mishap continues in Zurich. More and more infected people report that they have never been contacted. The canton of Zurich violently denies and for the first time takes a behind-the-scenes look at what is probably the most important call center in Switzerland.
The disputes over contact tracing in Zurich and whether it works now or not are similar to a fast-paced tennis match.
Reason enough for the Zurich health department to take a look behind the scenes. On Monday, Canton Doctor Christiane Meier and Andreas Juchli, Contact Tracing Operational Manager in Canton Zurich, were invited to the “Open House” in Pfäffikon ZH.
The “super ideal contact tracing” no longer exists
The JDMT Medical Services AG building, one of two Zurich Contact Tracing locations, is located in the Zurich Oberland. The other is at the airport.
In open-plan offices with gray carpets, some rooms are empty, more tracers will be used soon. In the rooms where work is already underway, there are 16 tables, each at least 1.5 meters apart, and mostly young medical students in front of them. It is perhaps the most important call center in Switzerland.
Most of the medical students work at the Zurich contact center. More to be added soon. Image: keystone
The health department responded to negative reports in recent days with the invitation. The “Sunday newspaper” accused the health department of having lost control of the tracking. As proof, the newspaper provided the stories of several infected people or those who had contact with infected people and were contacted too late or were not contacted.
Canton doctor Christiane Meier contradicts this claim: “The quota of people we cannot reach is in the single-digit percentage range.” She admitted that it was impossible to contact everyone completely. But that was never the goal.
The fact that there are people who are not contacted can have several reasons: “We are currently processing hundreds of cases a day. Problems can always arise somewhere in the information chain. For example, we depend on laboratories to report cases in a timely manner. Even with the correct contact details, ”says Meier. However, most of the time it works.
Christiane Meier and Andreas Juchli at the press conference on Monday. Image: keystone
To cope with the dizzying number of cases in recent days, the Zurich office is also using streamlined processes. “Super ideal tracking with follow-up calls and constant support is no longer possible,” says Meier.
In any case, many things are no longer done over the phone, but in writing. “After reporting in the system, an infected person receives an SMS within 30 minutes,” says Andreas Juchli. This looks like this:
image: Canton of Zurich Health Directorate
The infected person must provide a list of contact persons. Contact trackers contact these people on an individual basis. Therefore, the workload could be drastically reduced. According to Juchli, typical cases with seven or eight contact persons require around two hours of work. For comparison: the canton of Bern recently declared that each infected person would work 30 hours.
They are also currently in the process of forming more tracers. On Monday, the number of people per shift increased from 50 to 60. And there should be more. Therefore, the doctor of the canton Christiane Meier is confident: “We can handle an even greater number of cases.”
This also seems to be confirmed in a conversation with a tracker. We are not overwhelmed. We will follow up on the cases, ”says a medical student.
Cantonal Dr Meier wants nothing to do with an upper limit of infections where scan fails. “We will continue,” she says. I don’t see a scenario where we should stop. The task would be a political decision. “
