District officials announced Monday that the city’s health department will hire 175 more contact tracers, boosting its force up to 450 staff members to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and start home visits later this week.
“We remain concerned about the amount of community spread in the District,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at a press conference Monday, noting the city’s health department reported 53 new coronavirus cases.
The coronavirus has infected 13,273 residents and killed 597 as of Monday, D.C. Health data shows. The data also reflect a sustained transmission rate of 1.07, slightly above the health department’s goal of staying below one in order to eventually halt the epidemic. The District maintains its goal of keeping its seven-day average test positivity rate below 5%, reporting a 3.5% positivity rate.
Starting Thursday, D.C. Health will start conducting home visits for contact tracing cases where individuals did not complete interviews or were unable to be reached by phone after one or two days.
“We will also prioritize individuals who are flagged by either community-based providers or our health center providers as those who are most at risk for not being able to isolate successfully in their homes,” said Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of DC Health.
About 70% to 75% of people complete their interviews with contact tracers on a weekly basis since June 12, according to Dr. Nesbitt. Although contact tracers are able to follow up with most individuals, the health department reportedly lacks contact information for about 2% of coronavirus exposure cases.
During home visits, investigators will assess the residence for safe quarantine and isolation and evaluate needs for additional social services such as alternative housing, food or medication.
Data from 971 cases from July 31 to Aug. 13 found that 145 people reported attending a large event, defined as five more people, during their exposure period. More than 60% indicated that part of the event was held indoors and 62% reported social distancing was not practiced at some point during the gatherings.
Dr. Nesbitt outlined three case studies where infected individuals spread the coronavirus to others at gatherings. One involved a woman who had symptoms of a headache and loss of appetite who went out to dinner with five friends and shared food, another involved four college friends who took flights to Los Angeles to celebrate July 4 and shared a rental home, and the last involved a family gathering celebrating a 6-year-old’s birthday.
D.C. Health also found that 102 of the 971 cases involved traveling during the exposure period. Of those who reported traveling, 71% said they traveled by plane, 33% by rideshare, almost 7% by public transportation, nearly 9% by shared a van or shuttle and 4% by train or commuter rail.
Of 971 people with coronavirus, 711 answered questions about whether they had contact with someone who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 during the exposure period. Thirty-six percent reported they did have contact, 51% reported no and 12% were unsure.
Also at the press conference, Miss Bowser introduced Kevin Donahue, who was appointed as deputy city administrator and deputy mayor public safety and justice in 2015, as the interim city administrator.
Mr. Donahue replaces Rashad Young, who stepped down Friday following the mayor’s request for an ethics review of the former city administrator.
Mr. Young had helped negotiate a deal for more than $276 million in tax breaks and public funding for a new acute care hospital for Howard University, according to media reports.
The mayor applauded Mr. Young for his service while noting that the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability will review Mr. Young’s role in the hospital negotiations. She said the Council should proceed with a second vote on Howard University’s new hospital at their September meeting.
Howard University said it has no comments on the reports.
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