More testing supplies, more people needed to trace contacts of NC coronavirus cases

Tracing is essentially following in the footsteps of anyone who tests positive for the virus to see where they went, who they interacted with and for how long. The effort will require an army of public health workers, and the state Department of Health and Human Services is working with public and private partners to find them.

After compiling a list of people contacted, public health workers then closely watch anyone who had contact with an individual who tests positive, Wake County Public Health Director Chris Kippes said.

"We monitor those individuals in what we call the incubation period," Kippes said.

"It’s going to be a phased approach, and I do believe we’re going to need a lot of resources," he said.

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"That’s not something I want on my phone," Toni Hensley said.

A nurse, she said she prefers tracing the old-fashioned way: with a phone call.

Jeff Hensley had COVID-19 symptoms for more than a week before he could get tested for the coronavirus, his wife said, and she argued that tracking the spread of the virus will be crippled without widespread, timely testing.

"That's the only way we're going to find out the carriers that are not symptomatic that are walking around when we started testing," she said.

State health leaders said they hope new tests, some which allow people to test themselves, also will help the situation.

While the state tries to track down more testing supplies, Wake County is looking at staffing options to do contact tracing.