GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Brown County has the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the state of Wisconsin, and each of those cases means more work for contact tracers.
It always starts the same way. De Pere Public Health Nurse Erin Bongers says every positive test result kicks off a series of phone calls– first, to the person who tested positive, then, to anyone they may have been in close proximity to.
“We reach out to the patient after they’ve been notified by their health care system and then we talk to them about who they plan with, where they’ve been.” Bongers told reporters on Monday. “This is a process that can take several days and can take even several weeks depending on when we are able to reach the people.”
Prolonged contact has been defined by the CDC as being within six feet of a patient for ten minutes or longer.
Bongers says some people haven’t been picking up their phones when contact tracers call because they’re not sure who is calling them, prolonging the time it takes for successful contact tracing.
