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In many places there is a lack of contact tracing. But now the machinery in the cantons is being oiled.
The cantons are improving their monitoring of coronavirus infections. The president of all cantonal doctors in Switzerland, Rudolf Hauri, compares contact tracing to a transmission in a car: “It starts up slowly again, even though it is still a bit choppy at the moment.”
Anyone who has tested positive for Corona should be called and reported by a cantonal contact tracing employee at the beginning and end of the isolation period.
Contact tracing should also inform people who had contact with the infected person. But that was no longer possible in recent weeks because too many people were suddenly positive.
Is the situation under control again soon?
Now it should improve, says the best doctor in the canton. Positively reported cases will soon be able to be followed up again “quickly”. Zug, Schwyz, and Lucerne would get the situation under control again. This will make it possible to locate the origin of the disease.
Some cantons also have the support of civil protection agents to locate contacts.
Keystone
Things have also gone better in the canton of Bern this week, says Gundekar Giebel, spokesman for the cantonal health department. Many people have been hired for this and they work with partner organizations. “Now we can ensure contact tracing again.”
Bern: 200 people are working on contact tracing
Bern has doubled its contact tracing staff to 130 since the summer. In addition, a Zurich call center with 70 other people helps the canton with phone calls. Other cantons also purchase call center services to master contact tracing.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have done well from the beginning and thus avoid the debacle of recent weeks? “No,” says Giebel. Because the problems with follow-up only started with 1000 new infected people every day, and then quickly mounted. But with the help of the call center, those affected can now be quickly reached, Giebel said.
Basel Canton doctor Thomas Steffen agrees. The contact tracing team in the canton of Basel-Stadt has also been expanded and supplemented by external companies.
But it’s important that contact tracing people who are well aware of the situation at the scene are also working, Steffen emphasizes. “Some people ask where they can get bread and milk from now on, in isolation.” These problems can best be solved locally.
Slow down the spread
Therefore, the cantons are still dependent on contact tracing. But the same is no longer expected as at the beginning of the pandemic. In March it was still expected to break entire chains of contacts.
But at the moment it is simply “making it difficult for the virus to spread,” as Steffen puts it. Therefore, monitoring the infection chains will continue to be of great importance.
With the transmission repaired, the contact tracing vehicle should soon be back to normal operation. No jerks.
