Christina Cassidy, state government reporter, Atlanta; Jason Dearen, investigative reporter, Gainesville, Florida; and Meghan Hoyer, data team editor, Washington, led a team of AP reporters to determine if state governments are prepared to conduct contact tracing, a key requirement for restarting state economies. They began by putting a series of detailed questions to state health officials. The AP review found a patchwork of systems around the country, with many states unable to keep up with caseloads and scrambling to hire and train enough people to handle the task for the months ahead. https://bit.ly/35jbrdk
AP examines states’ readiness for contact tracing
Public health nurse Jennifer Morgan, right, checks in via phone with a patient self-quarantined at home who had some risk of exposure to the coronavirus as University of Washington epidemiology student Erika Feutz observes at the public health agency for Seattle and King County, Feb. 13, 2020. An AP review found that with no federal system in place, many states fall short of the mandate to track exposure.
AP Photo / Elaine Thompson