Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Objective
Scalable strategies to reduce the time burden and increase contact tracing efficiency are crucial during early waves and peaks of infectious transmission.Design
We enrolled a cohort of SARS-CoV-2-positive seed cases into a peer recruitment study testing social network methodology and a novel electronic platform to increase contact tracing efficiency.Setting
Index cases were recruited from an academic medical center and requested to recruit their local social contacts for enrollment and SARS-CoV-2 testing.Participants
A total of 509 adult participants enrolled over 19 months (384 seed cases and 125 social peers).Intervention
Participants completed a survey and were then eligible to recruit their social contacts with unique "coupons" for enrollment. Peer participants were eligible for SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory pathogen screening.Main outcome measures
The main outcome measures were the percentage of tests administered through the study that identified new SARS-CoV-2 cases, the feasibility of deploying the platform and the peer recruitment strategy, the perceived acceptability of the platform and the peer recruitment strategy, and the scalability of both during pandemic peaks.Results
After development and deployment, few human resources were needed to maintain the platform and enroll participants, regardless of peaks. Platform acceptability was high. Percent positivity tracked with other testing programs in the area.Conclusions
An electronic platform may be a suitable tool to augment public health contact tracing activities by allowing participants to select an online platform for contact tracing rather than sitting for an interview.
SUBMITTER: Pasquale DK
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10549909 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov-Dec 01
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Pasquale Dana K DK Welsh Whitney W Olson Andrew A Yacoub Mark M Moody James J Barajas Gomez Brisa A BA Bentley-Edwards Keisha L KL McCall Jonathan J Solis-Guzman Maria Luisa ML Dunn Jessilyn P JP Woods Christopher W CW Petzold Elizabeth A EA Bowie Aleah C AC Singh Karnika K Huang Erich S ES
Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP 20230628 6
<h4>Objective</h4>Scalable strategies to reduce the time burden and increase contact tracing efficiency are crucial during early waves and peaks of infectious transmission.<h4>Design</h4>We enrolled a cohort of SARS-CoV-2-positive seed cases into a peer recruitment study testing social network methodology and a novel electronic platform to increase contact tracing efficiency.<h4>Setting</h4>Index cases were recruited from an academic medical center and requested to recruit their local social con ...[more]