Grundy County provides COVID-19 Contact tracing update

MORRIS – The Grundy County Health Department provides new Illinois Department of Public Health process.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has begun the process of centralizing contact tracing efforts for Illinois residents, thereby relieving local health departments of much of this responsibility for the general public.

As of December 28th, individuals who test positive for COVID-19 have received an auto message informing them of quarantine/isolation information. As of January 14th, additional cases will be sent to the Illinois Department of Public Health Surge Center to help automate the information provided so that individuals have quick access to isolation guidance. Other states have used this process previously to help reduce call volumes for the local health departments.

Moving forward if a resident needs a release letter for work or school, requests will be accepted through this State system. Release letters will not be available for those residents who do not participate in the assessments. Grundy County Health Department cannot issue release letters as the case will be part of the centralized contact tracing efforts. Surge Center will be taking over calls, and Grundy County will no longer have direct oversight of contact tracing efforts in Grundy.

The Grundy County Health Department urges residents who test positive to identify and communicate with their own close contacts: persons with whom the positive person was in close proximity to in the 48 hours prior to specimen collection or symptom onset.

This change in process comes after two very long years of health department staff, contractor and volunteer efforts to provide timely notification, information and services regarding COVID-19. We will continue our efforts in vaccination and serving as a resource to various entities in the community. We continue to explore additional testing opportunities in Grundy and hope to provide resources soon.

Additional information about isolation and quarantine may be found at:

https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/community-guidance/quarantine-guidance.html.

Additional information about contact tracing and case investigation may be found at:

https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/data/contact-tracing.html.