Nurse tracing contacts of coronavirus victims

    Murphy – Across North Carolina, 250 people in local health departments are tracing contacts of those who test positive for COVID-19, according to information provided by Gov. Roy Cooper last week.
    In Cherokee County, the job goes to the communicable disease nurse Rebecca Hand.
    While the state is looking at ways to increase staffing for contact tracing as cases increase, Health Director David Badger said the department has shuffled some people around to help with the process. The department’s director of nursing and other clinically trained staff – up to five or six nurses – have been helping determine those contacts.
    Once a person is tested, the health department starts working with the individual to determine close contacts. Using this time between testing and receiving results allows the health department to start work on determining close contacts of the individual before more time passes, and before the stress of a positive result occurs.
    The county has also looked into digital sources for tracing independent of the state, and is rolling out a program internally.
    The communicable disease nurse is funded as a part-time position, and Hand has many other titles in the department. She also handles breast and cervical cancer prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C, family planning and is the tobacco specialist.
    Badger believes the state needs to fund more than just a part-time communicable disease nurse in each county.
    “Rebecca is an amazing individual,” Badger said, adding that a lot of his staff has multiple titles.
    He added the entire department has made going through the process of handling the coronavirus pandemic much easier, and has done their best work making sure the public is protected.
    “They put themselves at risk day in and day out,” Badger said. “My staff, we care. We’ve done a good job.”