Contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have been exposed to a contagious disease like COVID-19 and monitoring those people to stop the spread of disease.

Local public health experts and patients work together to make a list of people the patient interacted with while they were contagious. The public health experts then contact the people on the list, warn them that they may have been exposed to the virus, and give them guidance on what to do next.

The contacts are not told who the patient is unless the patient specifically gives permission. Public health experts work diligently to protect patient confidentiality.

Public health experts at local public health departments are responsible for contact tracing in their own communities. They work with patients to identify anyone the patient may have had contact with while they were contagious. This might include family, friends, co-workers, and community members.

Contact tracing allows public health experts to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus and provide them with resources and information about how to protect themselves and others from the spread of disease.

Depending on your contact with the patient, you may be asked to self-quarantine or you may be asked to visit with the contact tracer periodically and report if you have any symptoms. This will also allow for quicker testing if you become ill.

Yes. Public health experts around the world are successfully using contact tracing to slow the spread of COVID-19. Public health experts regularly use contact tracing for tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, HIV, Ebola, SARS and other infections that are spread from person-to-person.

You will receive a call from your local public health department if you are not hospitalized at the time of testing. Sometimes you will also hear from your local provider who performed the test. Once you are contacted by the local public health department, they will ask you questions to help determine who you have been in contact with to begin contact tracing.

Local public health experts will ask you a series of questions to help you remember who you may have had contact with while you were contagious. They may ask where you work, where you have shopped, where you ate, and who you visited with. The more detail you can give, the better.

Contacts can include anyone you have interacted with while contagious. First, public health experts will want to identify the “close contacts” whom you have been within 6 feet of for more than a few minutes. After identifying close contacts, public health experts will help you list all other contacts.

Yes. To protect patient privacy, contacts are told only that they may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Contacts are not told the identity of the patient who may have exposed them, unless the patient specifically gives public health experts permission to share that information.

Public health experts use a variety of methods to reach contacts as quickly as possible. If the person’s contact information is known, public health experts will make a personal phone call.

When exposure occurs in a public place and the patient does not know who was there, public health experts may issue a media release to notify anyone who may have been in a certain place at a certain time. They will instruct these people to contact their local public health department.

Remember that information about contact tracing will only come from a local public health expert.

You may be asked to stay home and isolate yourself from others for up to 2 weeks. You will be given instructions on how to monitor your symptoms and what to do if symptoms develop or worsen. Public health experts may continue to check in with you to monitor your health and provide additional instructions.

Public health experts will help you make a plan for self-quarantine. Tell them about any concerns you may have.

Public health experts may ask if you have had a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other COVID-19 symptoms. They may also ask questions to determine if you can safely isolate yourself from others.

Because you may have unknowingly spread the virus to others, you may be asked where you work, where you have shopped, and who you have visited to help the public health expert find additional contacts.

No. To protect patient privacy, contacts are told only that they may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. You will not be told the identity of the patient who may have exposed you to the virus unless the patient has asked that you be told.

When you talk to public health experts, please provide as much information as you can. It is very important that they be able to locate anyone you may have been in contact with.

You can help the process move more quickly if you start keeping a record now of the places you go each day and who you have contact with. If you are contacted by public health experts, you will be prepared to share the list with the public health expert to help speed up their contact tracing process.

You can download and print a contact tracking worksheet here.

Yes. To protect patient privacy, contacts are told only that they may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Contacts are not told the identity of the patient who may have exposed them, unless the patient specifically gives public health experts permission to share that information.

No, there are communicable disease statutes in place that require people with a communicable disease to provide local public health departments with as much information as possible to stop the spread of disease.

You will be asked for names, phone numbers, addresses, and other identifying information you may have for anyone you may have been in contact with. This is to help the local public health department reach these contacts faster. A quick response can help significantly to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Local public health agencies protect the personal information you provide in accordance with state and federal privacy regulations.

Local public health experts understand your desire for privacy and must follow state and federal regulations on protecting personal health information. Your information will only be used to help slow and stop the spread of disease. Unless you give the local public health agency permission to share your name with contacts, they will not do so.

Local public health experts understand your desire for privacy. They are bound by state and federal regulations, including HIPAA. Your information will only be used to help slow and stop the spread of disease. Unless you give the local public health agency permission to share your name with contacts, they will not do so.

Your local public health department will not ask you for information that could be used by identity thieves, like social security numbers.

Yes. You won’t be asked any personal information other than what is needed to be sure the local public health department is talking to the patient that they need to interview.