The Orange County Department of Health says a COVID surge at Orange County Public Schools is causing contact tracers to fall behind in issuing quarantine notices to parents.
The Health Department’s Dr. Raul Pino says the delay in issuing quarantine notices is being caused by a surge in cases and a shortage of contact tracers.
Pino says the lag time for a parent to receive a notice differs on a case-by-case basis.
“Yes, we are not being able right now to get to everyone. Does it increase the risk of transmission happening? Possibly, if that person was infected.”
[audio mp3="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/13020-pino.mp3"][/audio]
OCPS’ Scott Howat says even if families aren’t receiving an email from the department, they are being contacted when there’s possible exposure by the school.
“We're communicating immediately with the families. They may not get the official quarantine notice, but we’re letting families know that we were aware of a positive case."
[audio mp3="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/13020-howat.mp3"][/audio]
The district has already reported more than 1,000 cases and quarantines among students and teachers since the first day of school on August 10th.
