Contact tracing delay spurs individual action By: Julia-Simone Rutgers Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020 Last Modified: 4:04 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020 Updates

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A Winnipeg man who tested positive for COVID-19 says he has taken it upon himself to reach out to close contacts, after waiting six days for a call from the province’s tracers.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Free Press he waited nearly 2 1/2 hours at the Nairn Avenue drive-thru test site Oct. 13, and then received a call from Dynacare labs the next night, alerting him of his positive status.

Told to expect a follow-up call from public health to begin the contact tracing process, the man — whose symptoms include mild congestion and a tight chest — began self-isolating, and pursued novel coronavirus tests for his wife and child.

Six days later, he had yet to receive a call.

“Public health doesn’t start the tracing process until they reach out to me, and they don’t get the list of names until I tell them what the list of names is, and can’t tell (my contacts) about my positiveness until they start the investigation,” the man said in an interview Tuesday.

“So either I wait for them and no one gets told that I’m positive, or I preemptively tell them about my positiveness.”

Taking the task into his own hands, the man began reaching out to those he had recently been in contact with: at his church and workplace, his son’s music lessons and school.

“It’s the uncertainty that they have in their own work situation now that makes me feel a little guilty — that they can’t work the same way they used to work because of me. And they don’t even have an official contact from public health to let them know that they should be going out for testing or that they should be isolating,” he said.

“I feel a little guilty that I’ve affected their lives, and it’s not even an official notification yet.”
– Unidentified male that tested positive for COVID-19 and has begun his own contact tracing

“I feel a little guilty that I’ve affected their lives, and it’s not even an official notification yet.”

The Winnipegger has also been hoping to update his status on the nationwide COVID Alert app, which runs off user-submitted codes, but has yet to receive an entry code from the province.

“I know already about things like staying isolated, wearing masks… keeping your hands clean and not touching your face, but it’s people that you don’t know you’ve had interactions with that you don’t know are contacts,” he said.

“Not being able to at least put in their code to let them automatically know is a little worrisome to me.”

Data regarding close contacts is only stored in the app for two weeks; the Winnipeg man said he worries without a timely code entry, some users may never find out they were exposed.

After following-up with Shared Health on Tuesday, the man’s son and wife both received positive COVID-19 test results.

His son is considered a “high-priority” case, the man said, meaning contact tracing will begin for all three family members.

Meanwhile, other Winnipeggers have taken to social media to lament similarly long wait times for follow-up calls. One Twitter user told the Free Press he had been waiting nine days without a call from public health officials.

On Monday, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin told media the median wait time between a positive test and a contact tracing follow-up was 60 hours, due to a tracing backlog caused by rising cases in the city. The province has announced it plans to partner with the Red Cross to provide more contact tracing support.

The province did not respond to Free Press requests for comment by publication time.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers

Julia-Simone Rutgers
Reporter

Julia-Simone Rutgers is a climate reporter with a focus on environmental issues in Manitoba. Her position is part of a three-year partnership between the Winnipeg Free Press and The Narwhal, funded by the Winnipeg Foundation.

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