Lack Of Funding, Deep-Seated Mistrust Threaten Contact Tracing Efforts Essential For Reopening

The Washington Post: Contact Tracing Is ‘Best’ Tool We Have Until There’s A Vaccine, Health Experts Say
It has quelled outbreaks of Ebola, allowed smallpox to be corralled before being vanquished by a vaccine, and helped turn HIV into a survivable illness. And whenever a new infectious disease emerges, contact tracing is public health’s most powerful weapon for tracking transmission and figuring out how best to protect the population. But now, as coronavirus cases are surging in hot spots across the country, the proven strategy’s effectiveness is in doubt: Contact tracing failed to stanch the first wave of coronavirus infections, and today’s far more extensive undertaking will require 100,000 or more trained tracers to delve into strangers’ personal lives and persuade even some without symptoms to stay home. (Sellers and Guarino, 6/14)

CBS News: Ohio State Requiring Returning Players To Sign COVID-19 Waivers 
Ohio State football has started voluntary workouts, but before any Buckeyes started those team-sanctioned activities, they had to sign an acknowledgement of risk waiver due to COVID-19.  The Columbus Dispatch obtained the waiver and reported Sunday that players were asked to sign a "Buckeye Pledge." That pledge commits players to following the school's health guidelines -- including participation in contact tracing efforts and reporting of exposure -- and acknowledges the risk of contracting COVID-19 even while following those protocols. (Patterson, 6/15)

WBUR: As California Trains 20,000 Contact Tracers, Librarians And Tax Assessors Step Up 
After more than two months at home, Lisa Fagundes really misses her work managing the science fiction book collection of the San Francisco Public Library. She feels like she's in withdrawal, longing to see new books, touch them, smell them. "It's like a disease," she says, laughing. But recently, she's been learning how to combat a different disease: COVID-19. While libraries are closed, Fagundes is one of dozens of librarians in San Francisco training to become contact tracers, workers who call people who have been exposed to the coronavirus and ask them to self-quarantine so they don't spread it further. (Dembosky, 6/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Privacy Bills Hit Roadblocks In Congress
As authorities and companies explore surveillance tools to fight the coronavirus and reopen the U.S. economy, many federal lawmakers agree that privacy protections are key. But proposals for safeguards unveiled in recent weeks have crashed into two familiar roadblocks in the U.S. Senate. Many Republicans want federal law to override state-level rules for privacy, while Democrats have argued stronger state statutes should hold sway and want individuals to be able to sue companies for privacy violations. (Uberti, 6/15)

And in news on testing —

The Associated Press: Accuracy Still Unknown For Many Coronavirus Tests Rushed Out
How accurate are the coronavirus tests used in the U.S.? Months into the outbreak, no one really knows how well many of the screening tests work, and experts at top medical centers say it is time to do the studies to find out. When the new virus began spreading, the Food and Drug Administration used its emergency powers to OK scores of quickly devised tests, based mainly on a small number of lab studies showing they could successfully detect the virus. (Perrone, 6/14)

NPR: PCR Tests For The Coronavirus Can Be Compromised By Lab Errors
During the coronavirus pandemic, many scientists who usually have nothing to do with viruses or infectious disease are turning their attention to COVID-19. For example, one wildlife biologist is raising questions about the accuracy of tests that detect the coronavirus. In normal times, Andrew Cohen focuses his attention on issues of ecology and conservation, as director of the Center for Research on Aquatic Bioinvasions. (Harris, 6/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Don’t Want A Long Swab Up Your Nose? Bay Area Coronavirus Test Sites Are Trying Alternatives 
Cooper, who tested negative, is one of millions of people who have gotten tested for the coronavirus with a long, uncomfortable nasopharyngeal swab, which has been the standard way to test for respiratory illnesses. It collects specimens from the nasopharynx, which is where the nasal cavity and throat meet. Many people have also been tested with a long throat swab, known as an oropharyngeal swab. But in recent weeks, many coronavirus testing sites have started using shorter, less invasive swabs that don’t go nearly as far into the nose. One type of swab, known as a mid-turbinate swab, penetrates about an inch to an inch-and-a half into the nostril until it hits resistance at the nasal wall. Another type goes into the front inside part of the nostril, called the anterior nares, about as far as someone would stick their pinky finger in to pick their nose. (Ho, 6/15)