Under pressure contact tracing team expands

Tuesday 08 December 2020

There are now around 100 people on the contact tracing team and there are plans to grow it even further, the Government has said, amid reports that some direct contacts were facing waits of up to four days to be called for a test.

With 536 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Jersey, around 4,000 people are currently in isolation due to being deemed ‘direct contacts’.

Not only has the rapid rise in cases stretched the contact tracing team, with some individuals waiting more than 96 hours to be called for a test after being officially informed they were direct contacts, but issues were compounded over the weekend when some of the test-processing equipment failed. 

That issue has now been resolved, but Express understands that the team are now facing another challenge: many staff have themselves been forced to isolate due to being deemed direct contacts. 

Questioned what the strategy was to manage the rising backlog at a press conference last night by Express, the Chief Minister said that, as of today, there would be 97 people on the team. 

“And that’s excluding an extra 15 from different Departments, and we’re continuing to increase the capacity.” 

Emphasising that “test and trace… is a huge and significant part of our response to covid”, Medical Officer for Health Dr Ivan Muscat also suggested a system had been put in place to prioritise testing for certain direct contacts. 

“…If it is clear they are working in at-risk groups, then they are given priority over those who work in less at-risk groups,” he explained. 

He added that efforts would be made to continue to “improve [the track and trace system’s] efficiency as we go along.”