The Delta (B.1.617.2) coronavirus variant originally discovered in India last December is fast becoming the dominant global strain of COVID-19. Delta has already spread to at least 92 countries and now represents at least 10 percent of new infections in the US.
With many businesses on the cusp of reopening, Contact Tracing and Exposure Reporting solutions are fast becoming a must-have workplace reopening tool. In this post, we explore how to conduct workplace contact tracing
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTACT TRACING?
Local health departments are responsible for leading case investigations and contact tracing and companies with will be required to assist. When contact tracers investigate a case, they will ask the patient questions about their work and their work environment, about people they have been in close contact with, and the locations they visited during the previous two weeks.
In general, when a COVID-19 case impacts a workplace, the health department may ask the employer or business for information and assistance with:
- understanding the workplace, the work performed and how people interact
- identifying workplace close contacts
- conducting workplace contact tracing.
If the health department learns a person is a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 in a workplace, they will notify those people who were in close contact with the suspected case and advise them to follow the health advice.
WHAT IS CONTACT TRACING IN A BUSINESS?
Contact tracing is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to COVID-19 to prevent onward transmission. When contact tracers investigate a case, they will ask the patient questions about who they were in contact with over the previous 14 days.
For a business, providing accurate close contact information across all the employees, contractors, visitors and customers that an infected person was in contact with, is critical.
WHY DO WE NEED A CONTACT TRACING SOLUTION?
Businesses need access to accurate Contact Tracing data, fast. This is driven by the need to deliver close contact information to local health Authorities and to also manage the safety, operational and legal impacts of a COVID-19 outbreak in the workplace. In order to achieve that business can’t rely on manual contact tracing data collection or plug-in data retrieval.
RightCrowd Contact Tracing is based on automatic data capture every time a Badgeholder passes a RightCrowd Gateway. Reporting is based on accurate up-to-date data securely stored in a cloud database that renders all contact points and allows for further analysis and reporting by date, location, distance, duration, and contact-level. The application further provides data visualization capability across multi-level and time series close contacts.
EASY TO USE CLOSE CONTACT REPORTING
Manual contact tracing processes in a business setting is time consuming and error-prone. Collecting 2nd and 3rd-degree contact data manually compounds the effort and complexity.
Many Contact Tracing solutions rely on a standard database with a very basic dashboard and reporting capability. Businesses however often have a range of higher requirements due to their legal obligations and operating environment.
RightCrowd Contact Tracing provides easy to use reporting to identify workers who have been in contact with an infected person. Its secure database technology correlates all contact points and allows for simple analysis and reporting. In cases where someone is found to have tested positive, contact tracing reports can be quickly provided to local health authorities for case investigation.
PRIVACY BUILT-IN
Privacy regulations often differ between organizations, industries and legal jurisdictions. In many cases the same organization might need to operate its Contact Tracing solution to meet different requirements in different locations. Those requirements might range across data privacy, multi-site reporting, or distancing settings by location.
RightCrowd allows users to configure and operate privacy settings in one of four ways:
- Anonymous
- Based on the security identity number of the person
- Based on the name and identity number of the person
- Integrated with the building security system
Physical distance settings, advanced multilevel and time-based reporting can also be configured to meet the needs of small and large organizations.
Despite the investment in public contact tracing applications, business leaders have legal and safety obligations to their workers and visitors. This will require organizations to invest in fit for purpose solutions to better manage COVID-19 risks and protect their workers. To find out more go to https://www.rightcrowd.com/contact-tracing-wearables/
