{"id":111108,"date":"2020-07-16T10:21:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T14:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=111108"},"modified":"2020-09-30T10:29:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T14:29:21","slug":"what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As COVID-19 infections dramatically increase<\/a>, so does the risk that you\u2019ve been potentially exposed to someone with the disease \u2013 someone who may not have had symptoms yet. That\u2019s why contact tracing is such an important tool in managing the spread of this virus. What is contact tracing, how does it work and why is it important in our fight against COVID-19? For answers, we turn this week to Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine<\/a> who serves on UCF\u2019s COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Committee.<\/p>\n

Contact tracing allows public health officials to identify and communicate with any person who might have come in close contact with someone who tested positive for an infectious disease like COVID-19. Contact tracing isn\u2019t new \u2013 it\u2019s been used for centuries during disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n

There are generally four steps in contract tracing.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The first is case investigation. When someone tests positive for COVID-19, a public health expert contacts them and asks them to remember the people with whom they had close contact in the 48 hours before they became symptomatic or until they began self-isolating. The goal of this investigation is to identify people who might have been infected by the infected person. Close contact means the infected person was around someone for at least 15 minutes and at a distance of less than six feet.<\/li>\n
  2. Next comes contact tracing. The public health expert notifies these people that someone with whom they had contact tested positive for COVID-19. To be most effective, this tracing needs to happen quickly, so potentially infected people can get tested and begin isolating themselves. Patient privacy is paramount so people aren\u2019t told who has tested positive \u2013 only that they may have been exposed.<\/li>\n
  3. The third step is contact support, which is education and guidance. Public health experts help potentially-exposed people understand their risks and share with them information on symptoms, testing and ways to avoid spreading COVID-19.<\/li>\n
  4. The final step is self-quarantine. Those who have been in contact with an infected person are urged to self-quarantine for 14 days \u2013 including staying six feet away from anyone living with them. They are urged to monitor their health and what to do if they become symptomatic. Self-quarantining helps isolate the virus and keep it from spreading further.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    One of the challenges of COVID-19 is that it\u2019s so easy to catch. The virus occurs in air droplets that spread when we sneeze, cough or even speak. You don\u2019t have to be feeling ill to spread this disease. People speaking or laughing in close proximity to each other \u2013 such as in a loud, crowded bar or at the dinner table \u2013 can spread the virus. There have been documented cases of choir members passing it onto each other as they sang.<\/p>\n

    We all breathe each other\u2019s air and the coronavirus is not going away. That\u2019s why we need contact tracing to help manage the spread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":111116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[979,18250,23581],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-111108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-college-of-medicine","tag-coronavirus","tag-health-tip"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-16T14:21:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-30T14:29:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407\"},\"headline\":\"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-16T14:21:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-30T14:29:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Medicine\",\"Coronavirus\",\"health tip\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health & Medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-16T14:21:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-30T14:29:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407\"},\"description\":\"Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407\",\"name\":\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/ni563285\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\\\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?","description":"Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?","og_description":"Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2020-07-16T14:21:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-30T14:29:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/"},"author":{"name":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407"},"headline":"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?","datePublished":"2020-07-16T14:21:09+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-30T14:29:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/"},"wordCount":501,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg","keywords":["College of Medicine","Coronavirus","health tip"],"articleSection":["Health & Medicine"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/","name":"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg","datePublished":"2020-07-16T14:21:09+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-30T14:29:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407"},"description":"Robin Hines, a population health sciences expert at the College of Medicine, outlines steps for contact tracing and explains why it is important.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406.jpg","width":1200,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Is Contact Tracing? How Can It Help Manage COVID-19?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80c5f96623baaf4ec084540ceb2407","name":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0eafe9f8522ea36420e16503c4ea5eded2f876d29a0c189ed66c195f65ced6e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicole Dudenhoefer '17"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/ni563285\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/what-is-contact-tracing-how-can-it-help-manage-covid-19\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/07\/woman-putting-hand-sanitizer-on-man-s-hand-3983406-300x200.jpg","primary_category":12,"primary_tag":979,"author_byline":"Deborah GERMAN, VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEALTH AFFAIRS AND DEAN OF COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND Robin Hines, College of Medicine","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111108"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113927,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111108\/revisions\/113927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111108"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=111108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}