Contact tracing efforts are overwhelming health departments as COVID-19 cases surge – Peoria Journal Star

“It’s been difficult for us,” said Woodford County public information officer Andrea Ingwersen. “Last week we had a record number increase, 71 cases in one day. That’s 71 phone calls, and maybe it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it takes a lot of time. We may have to leave messages and play phone tag. One positive case could have zero contacts or they could have upwards of 20+ contacts. So an intake for one positive case can be a phone conversation that’s 45 minutes to an hour long. You can do the math as far as how much staff time that takes.”