SAN FRANCISCO—Health officials in San Francisco indicated that they are using a new tool to improve contact tracing, as reported by the SFist on Saturday, November 28.
In association with California Connection, California’s contact tracing program, San Francisco will begin using technology to contact trace the spread of the coronavirus in order to mitigate the spread.
According to the state’s government website, contact tracing is “when public health workers identify and notify the people who were exposed to infected people.”
Those who were exposed will be contacted through phone, email, or text and will be asked if they have possibly exposed anyone else. Then, those exposed people will also be contacted by public health workers.
Exposed individuals will also be informed on how to avoid spreading it to others and will stay in touch with health workers if symptoms begin to appear.
California Connection also stated that information will be confidential, which includes social security number, immigration status, and payment information.
Starting Sunday, November 29, the city of San Francisco will be moved into the purple tier. This means that indoor activities like cinemas, gyms, and museums will be closed. Indoor retail must be at 25 percent capacity and schools that have not opened must remain closed.
The mayor of San Francisco indicated on Twitter on November 28 that the rise in coronavirus cases in the city is “the most aggressive surge SF has seen to date.”
On average, there are currently “118 new cases per day compared to 73 per day in the first week of November.” The mayor indicated that during the week of November 16, San Francisco “had 768 diagnosed cases compared to 217 diagnosed cases the week of October 12th.”
California’s limited stay-at-home order will begin on Monday, November 30. Non-essential businesses are required to close and outdoor gatherings will be banned from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. This order will be in effect until Monday, December 21.
On Twitter, Governor Gavin Newsom indicated on November 25 that the state has an average of 13,751 cases per day with hospitalizations increasing by 88 percent over the previous couple of weeks. The average coronavirus positivity rate is nearly 6 percent.
