KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will stop contact tracing starting Feb. 1.
Contact tracing is a way to monitor the spread of COVID-19 by tracking cases and where someone who contracted the virus has been in an effort to identify emerging cases before close contacts continue to spread the diseases.
Due to a record number of COVID-19 cases and increasing resistance to participate in contact tracing, the state has decided to end its contact-tracing program.
“As we enter the third year of this pandemic, public health has to begin to adjust the level of response to help alleviate the strain on the Public Health system,” KDHE Acting Secretary Janet Stanek said in a statement. “The pandemic is far from over, but this step is a move toward managing COVID-19 as an endemic disease. The responsibility of protecting yourself and others belongs to all of us.”
The state had already changed contact tracing since the start of the pandemic. While all cases of COVID-19 saw contact tracing eventually, it became more of a voluntary process as the case numbers increased.
Schools were the biggest part of recent contact tracing, but now that is winding down as well.
State staff assigned to contact tracing will be reassigned to contact investigations.
Anyone who tests positive should still let their close contacts know about potential exposure. KDHE and local health departments will still notify people about outbreaks at places like schools, correctional facilities and shelters.
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