Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 21, 2021 (SKNIS): As the coronavirus continues tothreaten health and upend daily life globally, necessary measures were implemented to curb the spread of the virus. One such measure was contact tracing of confirmed cases, a measure St. Kitts and Nevis’ contact tracing team performs exemplary on a daily basis. The team was highly commended by Josef Markman, Head of the Contact Tracing Team, during the October 20 edition of ‘Working for You’.
“I just want to take this opportunity to publicly thank my team, the contact tracers, because they have been under a lot of pressure and scrutiny but they have persevered and pushed through and I just want to commend them for the wonderful job that they have been doing,” said Mr. Markman.
Mr. Markman encouraged persons who are contacted to not be afraid and be willing togive accurate information.
“I also want to reiterate to persons to don’t be afraid of contact tracing and to give the information because that information is very important and it could help save a loved one or one of your friends and it can also make sure that we keep the country as COVID free as possible,” he said.
Mr. Markman said that in an effort to contain the spread of the virus it is extremely important to carry out contact tracing. Once a positive case is identified, testing labs are required by law to report that patient’s contact information to the health department. Contact tracers then interview every person who tests positive for COVID-19, as they have been doing since the outbreak began.
The contact tracers help patients recall their activities in the previous days and identify people they came in close contact with. They also help patients understand what self-isolation means and what they will need to do to self-isolate.
Contact tracing, which includes information gathering, health communication around testing, and support for isolation and quarantine, is an important element of the COVID-19 public health response in St. Kitts and Nevis. Contact tracing can minimize the reproductive number by identification and testing of contacts of people diagnosed with symptomatic or asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 infection and by interrupting virus transmission with quarantine and isolation.
