Palm Beach County Schools No Longer Doing Contact Tracing for COVID-19

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Emergency Physicians

Contact tracing is really helpful in determining who may have been exposed to COVID-19.

Melissa Eugene, Club Member

Contact tracing for COVID-19 cases will no longer be in effect beginning March 22, 2o22 at Palm Beach County Schools.

Contact tracing can be defined as “the process of attempting to identify people who have recently been in contact with someone diagnosed with an infectious disease, especially in order to treat or quarantine them.”

This comes after the decline in COVID-19 cases in the Palm Beach County area. However, if a student contracted the disease, the parent or guardian will still be notified of this.

Students who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 will still have the opportunity to be tested by the school nurse to obtain a valid result on whether or not they have COVID.

The district is introducing a “Test To Know” program at specific schools, where students and staff members who are not showing signs of COVID, but feel they may have been exposed to COVID-19, can receive a rapid antigen test.

According to the CDC, contact tracing is targeted more for areas where COVID cases are high. In Palm Beach County, COVID-19 cases aren’t prevalent a lot for contact tracing to be done.

Make sure to continue staying safe and wash your hands!