Back tracking confirmed COVID-19 cases to help slow the virus' spread

Health agencies in Josephine and Jackson County work to compile a list of contacts from positive coronavirus patients.

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ááádual boxááá newswatch 12's josh shelton has been following this story today.

Josh, as investigators work to find out this information, what happens as people are identified as potentially infected?

Alicia, in jackson and josephine counties, these case investigators conduct interviews with the patient and health care providers to put together a list of people who may have been exposed.

Those people are usually contacted within the day by investigators before further steps are taken.

(topic key) investigators then work to find out if they came into direct contact with the infected patient.

Then, those people are either monitored or asked to self-isolate.

<(take anthony key) anthony perry says, "with symptomatic individuals, they will become persons under investigation.

We will then conduct monitoring with them, but for individuals who do not have any symptoms, those individuals are just recommended to self-isolate at home."

People are typically only tested for covid-19 if they are at high risk for serious complications.

(take david key) dr. david candelaria says, "what's different in this case investigation is because of the scarcity in supplies for testing and the test itself, not everyone who becomes symptomatic will become tested."

(topic key) in either case, people are strongly encouraged to self-isolate to help prevent the spread of the virus.

This whole process is not anything new to the public health agencies, it's something they use with many othernfectious diseases, but this novel coronavirus has made the process more prominent.

In medford, josh shelton, newswatch