JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Many people are not reached for coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) contact tracing due to missing information or non-response to telephone calls. The New York City (NYC) Trace program augmented the efforts of telephone-based contact tracers with information gatherers (IGs) and community engagement specialists (CESs).

Objective:

The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of information gathering and home visits to the yields of COVID-19 contact tracing in NYC.

Methods:

IGs looked for phone numbers or addresses when records were missing locating information. CESs made home visits to case-patients and contacts with no phone numbers or that were not reached by telephone-based tracers. Contact tracing management software was used to triage and queue assignments for the telephone-based tracers, IGs, and CESs. We quantified the contact tracing outcomes performed by the IGs and CESs from July 2020 – June 2021.

Results:

Of 685,717 case and 901,810 contact records in the Trace system, 27% (185,485) of cases and 34% (303,550) of contacts were referred to IGs. IGs obtained new phone numbers for 33% (61,804) of case-patients, and 11% (31,951) of contacts; and 50% (31,019) of the case-patients and 46% (14,604) of contacts with new phone numbers completed interviews. Twenty-five percent (167,815) of case-patients and 8% (72,437) of contacts were referred to CESs. CESs attempted 132,781 case and 49,846 contact investigations, and 47% (62,733) of these case-patients and 50% (25,015) of contacts completed interviews. An additional 12,192 and 13,507 contacts were identified following IG and CES interventions, respectively.

Conclusions:

Gathering new or missing locating information and making home visits increased the number of case-patients and contacts interviewed for contact tracing and additional contacts were identified. Clinical Trial: Not applicable.