Contact tracing is no longer possible across the South due to rapid coronavirus surges

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Despite hopes for relief this summer, the US is battling the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic -- so much so that across the South and Southwest contact tracing is no longer possible, according to a health expert.

"The cases are rising so rapidly, that we cannot even do contact tracing anymore. I don't see how it's possible to even do that," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday.

The rapid rise in cases is considered a surge, not a second wave, because the infection numbers never lowered to where officials hoped they would, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a Facebook and Twitter livestream Monday.

"We are still knee-deep in the first wave of this," Fauci said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-coronavirus-contact-tracing-is-no-longer-possible-across-the-south-due-to-rapid-coronavirus-surges-health-expert-says/ar-BB16qmVK?ocid=NL_ENUS_D1_20200707_1_3

So much for the hot weather killing the virus.

[Nevilledog]

1. It's technologically possible.

It's just not feasible because of the numbers of new infections.

[mahina]

3. So is it now impossible to stop or at least help?

Could you talk through how it’s technologically impossible?

Thank you so much for helping us understand. It’s all unknown to me and I’m sure to others here. Mahalo.

[Nevilledog]

4. They can track GPS from cellphones, and personal interviews.

The problem is not enough resources to meet the demand for tracing. By the time you go through the process too much time has passed and more people have been infected. Rinse and repeat.

That does not mean contact tracing should be stopped. It just means it's not going to be a fraction as helpful when there's a large outbreak.

[mahina]

5. Thank you

[Voltaire2]

2. If only there were a federal agency that could

have been directed early on as the pandemic started to set up comprehensive test trace and quarantine programs nationwide.

[soothsayer]

6. Yeah, maybe a... task force or something

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. One simple thing will save lives now. Wear a mask. . . . nt