Sonoma County to Assign Hundreds to Coronavirus Contact Tracing

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Sonoma County Public Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase says the county will put a small army of hundreds to work in the weeks ahead, in an effort to locate and isolate anyone who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

On the first day since March 23rd that parks in the county have been open to neighborhood residents, Mase said that any actions to further ease shelter-in-place restrictions will depend in large part on the ability of health officials to find new virus cases, and trace the contacts of the person infected.

And that will take many more people than are currently involved in the work. In a briefing to reporters, Mase said the county would initially reassign county workers to the job, and if needed may reach out to the community for volunteers at a later date.

Besides increasing virus testing to around 800 per day across Sonoma County, more extensive contact tracing, altered business practices and social distancing restrictions are among the necessary elements that must be in place Mase says, before shelter-in-place can be relaxed across the county.

On Tuesday, Mase told county supervisors that modeling showed local transmission rates of less than one, at approximately .65, meaning each person who had the virus was infecting, on average, less than one other person.

Maintaining that kind of transmission rate while easing shelter-in-place says Mase, will only be possible with a more robust contact tracing effort.

On Monday, 6 Bay Area counties announced they would extend stay-at-home orders through the month of May. On Tuesday Mase confirmed Sonoma County would also be extending shelter-in-place orders, and said her staff was in the process of writing those orders which will be out later this week.

Sonoma County’s current shelter-in-place order extends through May 3rd.