A
communicable
disease is spread from one person to another through a
variety of ways, such as contact with blood and bodily fluids;
breathing in an airborne virus; or by being bitten by an insect.
Public health works in cooperation with local doctors, hospitals and
laboratories, to identify communicable diseases.
Once
notified of certain communicable diseases, public
health will start a case investigation by calling persons to determine
how they may have been exposed and who the person was in contact with.
This is the basis of "contact tracing," and it is done
regularly by public health for measles, sexually transmitted diseases,
tuberculosis --to name a few.
Many people who have COVID-19 don’t show any symptoms and don’t realize they may be spreading the virus. We can track the spread and possibly reduce additional exposure to others, by figuring out who the person with COVID has been in contact with.
Contact tracing only works if you talk to and share information with a contact tracer. So if you get a call or text from a contact tracer, help keep your family and friends safe by answering.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19 or have been exposed and your information has been reported to Tarrant County Public Health you will receive the following message by phone, email, or text from Tarrant County Public Health’s automated messaging system Everbridge. The phone message or text originates from Tarrant County's COVID-19 hotline (817-248-6299), while the email comes from covidtesting@tarrantcounty.com.
We will attempt to reach you based on the contact information supplied to us by your medical provider or the information you submitted at the drive-through testing site.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19 or have been exposed and
your information has been reported to Tarrant County Public Health you
will receive the following message:
“This is an important
message, please listen carefully. Tarrant County Public Health is
trying to reach you to get information about your health. Tell us how
to connect with you.
• Select 1 for completing an online
survey, go to www.tarrantcounty.com/casesurvey
•
Select 2 for receiving a call from a contact tracer
• Select
3 for Placing a call to the hotline at 817-248-6299 between the
hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
• Select 4
for None of the above
A slightly modified version is sent
out via text. The phone and text message continue to be sent to you
every hour until either you select one of the choices or the system
has tried four times to reach you and you have not responded to any of
the attempts.
Simply pressing 1 through 4 on your keypad,
or texting 1 through 4 back to us will get the messages to stop before
all four contact cycles have been completed. It also lets us know
your preferred method of communication. If you select an online
survey or a call to the hotline and then we don’t hear from you, your
case will be referred to a contact tracer for follow up.
The information contact tracers receive is meant to help the individuals involved, as well as to protect those they live with and the community, in general. Once information is received, by law, only health officials with proper credentials can access it.
For people diagnosed with COVID-19
Be ready to provide the following information:
Individual Notification
Tarrant County Public Health encourages people positive for
COVID-19 to notify their contacts and workplaces of possible
exposure. When public health received information on potential
contacts, a contract tracer calls the individual/workplace about the
potential exposure.
A contact tracer will ask:
At the end of the call, we may even ask if you would like to enroll
in a messaging program, which sends daily health and safety reminders
until the 14-day quarantine ends. (See “How will you be monitored if
you have been exposed to COVID-19?”). We cannot tell you the name of
the individual who exposed you.
Large Group Notification
When exposure has occurred in a large setting, such as: a
school or large workplace, Tarrant County Public Health will use its
automated messaging system to send out mass emails, texts and phone
messages using a list provided to us by the school or workplace, etc.
The messages will originate from Tarrant County's COVID-19 hotline
(817-248-6299) while the email comes from
covidtesting@tarrantcounty.com.
Here is an example of a message that would be sent out during a
school investigation:
“This is an important message,
please listen carefully. Tarrant County Public Health is
investigating one or more cases of COVID-19 at {insert school}. Your
child has been identified as being a potential close contact. Tarrant
County Public Health requires your child to be excluded from school
and isolate for the next 14 days. Your child will be allowed to
return to school on {inset date}. Contact your school for options for
virtual instruction during this time.
We also strongly recommend that your child get tested for COVID-19. For more detailed directions including a listing of locations where free testing is available please visit www.tarrantcounty.com/covidexposure or call 817-248-6299. We appreciate your cooperation in stopping the spread of COVID 19. Please select from the following:
Tarrant County Public Health will use Sara Alert™ to communicate
with people at risk for developing COVID-19 due to an exposure.
Primarily those people whose names were provided as persons being
exposed to COVID-19 under quarantine and/or in isolation. This
automated system will allow you to electronically report through web,
text, email or phone calls, your daily health condition so that we can
monitor your progress
We are all in this together, and by
sharing information and listening to the direction of public health
staff, we can spread the word, stop the virus, keep people healthy and
keep Tarrant County schools and businesses open.
Sara Alert™ is a standards-based, open-source tool that allows public
health officials to monitor individuals at risk for COVID-19, enabling
real-time insights and increased reporting capability for early
containment of the virus. The tool allows individuals to report daily
symptoms through web, text, email, or phone calls. The tool was
developed by MITRE in partnership with state, local, and federal
partners.
About Sara Alert (Fact sheet)
Tips to Protect Yourself from Scams: English Spanish
We’ll call your contacts and let them know they have been exposed so they can get tested, but not tell them your name. Your information will remain confidential. Contact tracers will never:
Contact tracers may:
If you are uncomfortable in answering a question, you can decline to answer a question, but still can participate in completing the case or contact interview.
The Tarrant County Health Alert Network allows public health to
quickly share information about urgent public health incidents
affecting the county. You can join this network by visiting this website and choosing
which topics that interest you and how you want to be alerted. When
those topics are updated, you will receive an alert notice by the
method you have selected.
Current topics you can select
include:
County Telephone Operator 817-884-1111
Tarrant County provides the information contained in this web site as a public service. Every effort is made to ensure that information provided is correct. However, in any case where legal reliance on information contained in these pages is required, the official records of Tarrant County should be consulted. Tarrant County is not responsible for the content of, nor endorses any site which has a link from the Tarrant County web site.
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100 E. Weatherford, Fort Worth, Texas 76196
Copyright 2001-2019 Tarrant County, TX
Public Health