Contact Tracing

The county health department says it will stop calling all close contacts and instead use text messages and other electronic notifications for most communications. News4’s Drew Wilder reports.

The arrival of the omicron variant of the coronavirus has health officials in some U.S. communities reviving contact tracing operations in an attempt to slow and understand its spread.

Health investigators across the U.S. are finding it nearly impossible to keep up with the deluge of new COVID-19 infections and carry out contact tracing efforts that were once seen as a pillar of the nation’s pandemic response.

Health officials in Virginia say they’ll likely have to scale back on contact tracing because coronavirus transmission levels are rising so high

Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports on changes in Virginia’s COVID-19 contact tracing program because of the surge in coronavirus cases.

An Associated Press analysis finds that new smartphone technology for alerting people about possible exposure to the coronavirus has been slow to catch on

“Answer the call” and download the COVID Alert app have joined the growing list of pandemic precautions, such as wearing a mask and social distancing, as the Maryland Health Department battles a pandemic surge during this holiday season

Maryland rolled out a COVID-19 contact tracing app on Tuesday, asking residents to opt-in to for an automatic alert if they may have been exposed to someone with the virus. As the pandemic worsens in Maryland, the state aims to use the voluntary MD COVID Alert app as a supplement to conventional contact tracing. “I encourage Marylanders to use MD…

Across the U.S., people from immigrant, refugee and Black communities are being hired to bridge the cultural divide in the United States and rebuild public confidence in America’s public health system

D.C. residents will be getting alerts on their smartphones Tuesday, asking them to sign up for a new app that helps fight the spread of COVID-19.

No one should have come in person last week to President Donald Trump’s fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club because of the risk of COVID-19 infection, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. White House officials acknowledged last week they knew of the president’s exposure risk before he traveled to the Garden State for Thursday’s event but allowed it...

Only a handful of contact tracers working to slow COVID-19 in 125 communities near Chicago speak Spanish, despite significant Hispanic populations

As the District continues to expand contact tracing on those who have tested positive for the virus, health officials are learning more about where people are contracting the virus. News4’s Mark Segraves reports.

Technical roadblocks are slowing the launch of contact-tracing apps stateside. Apple and Google rolled out an exposure notification tool in May to Android and iPhone, making it possible for app developers to use Bluetooth to track when devices come close to each other. But government agencies are facing challenges when it comes to creating the app itself.

Virginia is testing an app that would alert you if you’ve come into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. Consumer Reporter Susan Hogan shows how it works.

As D.C., Maryland and Virginia continue through the phases of reopening, one key element to help make us safer is contact tracing. Each health department is hiring hundreds of people and training them to do the job. Is it right for you? More than 400,000 people have already signed up for a free online course offered by Johns Hopkins University…

As D.C., Maryland and Virginia continue the phases of reopening, one key element to help make us safer is contact tracing. Each health department is hiring hundreds of people and training them to do the job. Jodie Fleischer and the News4 I-Team went to contact tracing school to show what it’s all about.

Health experts are concerned that protests erupting across the nation and the law enforcement response to them will upend efforts to track and contain the spread of coronavirus just as those efforts were finally getting underway

A demo of a German coronavirus app was released on Friday which authorities hope will allow the country to safely reopen in time for summer tourism.

A single person can lead to 59,000 additional coronavirus infections over time, according to a recent study. That’s where contact tracers come in. Contact tracers play a big role in reopening the country and preventing future outbreaks, but it’s not easy. They’re trained to interview people to find out if they’re sick, where they’ve been and who they’ve been...