By ANGELA NEBEL/For YachatsNews.com
Angela Martinez-Hernandez of Newport had just finished the medical assistant program at Oregon Coast Community College this month, when she heard about Lincoln County’s urgent need for bilingual workers to help trace contacts of people with COVID-19.
“I know it is a scary situation and I knew I could help,” she said.
Within days, Martinez-Hernandez was making her first calls as a contact tracer for Lincoln County Public Health.
Contacting people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus and asking them to quarantine for up to two weeks is considered one of the keys to slowing or preventing the spread into and through the community.
Lincoln County is still reacting to a massive workplace outbreak at Pacific Seafood in early June, that has now led to 168 COVID-19 cases and the temporary shutdown of at least four restaurants. As of Wednesday there had been 301 COVID-19 cases, 4,244 negative tests and two deaths.
Martinez-Hernandez is one of 25 contact tracers, working almost exclusively with Spanish-speaking people who have direct contact with a known positive case.
“I was a former medical interpreter, translating English to Spanish, so I knew I could help and really wanted to,” she said.
The county’s contract tracing coordinator, Ellen Franklin, emailed her with the offer.
Franklin, who normally works in primary care at Lincoln County Health and Human Services, is managing the contact tracing team for COVID-19. After the Pacific Seafood outbreak, that team was assembled and supplemented with the help of a variety of sources, including the community college, the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians, and the Oregon Health Authority. Tracing contacts from the Newport outbreak was especially tough because many of those affected spoke Spanish or an indigenous Guatemalan dialect.
The state’s goal is to have 15 contract tracers for every 100,000 population. But with large outbreaks like the one in Newport or at a church in Union County, additional resources are brought in to more quickly track contacts.
How contact tracing works
Franklin is the channel through which tracers receive their contact lists, training updates, and any other needs.
Martinez-Hernandez and other tracers are calling anyone who has been identified as a close contact with a known positive case. To be considered a close contact, the individual must have been within six feet of someone who tested positive for 15 minutes or more.
“If they are being called, they need to quarantine for 14 days from the last exposure date,” she said.
That means 14 days from the last time they had contact with the positive case. A call from the county may be the first time the individual is notified of the need for isolation, although they all receive a letter by mail as well.
Of Martinez-Hernandez’ original 13 contacts, all were sharing a residence with a known positive case and some were children.
Initial calls are equal parts fact-finding and education. They typically take around 30 minutes.
“We explain that we are contacting them because they have been in contact with someone who tested positive and we want to monitor their symptoms and gather information,” said Martinez-Hernandez. “We provide them with a lot of information on how to isolate or quarantine at home.”
Contact tracers also answer a lot of questions, both during the initial call and in the daily check-ins that follow. For the next 14 days, those contacts receive a call or text, depending on their preferences. The daily check-ins are used to ask about any symptoms and make sure the individual’s needs are met, including those that would require travel outside the home.
“Contact tracers develop a relationship with all of these people,” said Public Health director Rebecca Austen. “They call every day and if someone begins having symptoms, we get them lined up for testing. Even before that, we have put them into isolation and that is how we will get our arms around this and stop the spread of the virus. That’s why we tell them we will make sure you get whatever you need.”
Groceries, diapers, medications, a thermometer, cleaning goods, and even pet supplies are some examples of the needs that can be met.
“We ask every day and are able to fill out a sheet about their necessities and how urgent the need is,” Martinez-Hernandez said.
Those forms are forwarded on to an essential needs coordinator at the county who arranges for those deliveries. In many cases, individuals have family members who can drop off supplies, but the option is always offered.
Quarantining for 14 days a challenge
People asked to quarantine are also given options for housing. If someone is unable to isolate from others safely, Lincoln County has arranged for hotel rooms. County officials say the need for this option has not been great, but it is an available resource and the costs would be covered by grants and federal support.
Fernando Garza of Lincoln City is also a contact tracer. One of the challenges he has found is convincing people that they must remain in quarantine for 14 days. He recalls one situation where, after three days, the individual was asking if they could spend time with family members outside the home.
“Guess what? Three days is nothing,” he told them, cautioning against it.
The difficulty for many goes beyond time with family and is often about lost wages or concerns about explaining to an employer that they cannot come to work.
Franklin said anyone in quarantine receives a letter that can be presented to an employer.
“I want employers to understand that we are working through these cases the best we can,” Franklin said. “If an employee tells you they have been exposed, please show some understanding if they don’t have their letter yet. We are actively trying to keep people quarantined so this does not spread.”
Tracers are also able to provide resources for covering rent or replacing lost income as a result of quarantine.
Knowing that some people may be suspicious about a call from a stranger, Lincoln County Public Health says contact tracers will never ask for Social Security numbers, immigration information or bank account numbers. Many contact tracers are working from home and using their own telephones. Anyone wishing to verify that a contact tracing call is legitimate is invited to call Franklin at 541-265-0585.
Martinez-Hernandez and Garza say they like helping to provide a lifeline to people isolating at home.
“A man I called today was just thankful I was keeping track of him and his family,” said Martinez-Hernandez. “Although they have no symptoms, they are thankful to have someone calling and checking.”
— Angela Nebel of Newport is the owner of Summit Public Relations Strategies; angelasummitpr@gmail.com