NJ contact tracers meet resistance from COVID-hit residents, health officials warn

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New Jersey residents who’ve gotten a call from the state’s Contact Tracing Corps are refusing to hand over personal data, and many more aren’t even picking up, the Murphy administration announced Friday as state health officials grapple with a resurgence of COVID-19.

All told, 63 percent of those phoned by a contact tracer, whose job is to track down and isolate new cases of the virus so as to prevent any outbreaks, answered the phone, state health officials said. Meanwhile, 20 percent would not pick up, according to State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

Moreover, 45 percent of those who tested positive for COVID-19 and actually spoke with a contact tracer wouldn’t hand over personal information for anyone they may have been in touch with, according to new data on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

“The greatest impediment to contact tracing has been from people not answering the phone or refusing to assist our contact tracers,” the governor said at a COVID-19 press conference Friday afternoon in Trenton. “Let’s be perfectly clear: Contact tracing is about public health.”

“No one is out on a witch hunt,” he added. “No one is asking questions that have any focus other than trying to stop the spread of this virus.”

New Jersey’s latest health data shows that the state’s Community Contact Tracing Corps now sits at 1,344 personnel, 995 of whom are public health workers.

The other 349 were hired by Rutgers University’s School of Public Health and completed contact tracing training, on top of another 249 enrolled in the university’s program, Murphy said.

All told, the goal is to have at least 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents.

Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Ocean, Somerset and Sussex counties all have below that threshold, while Middlesex County is just shy of it at 14.9.

Essex County has 20.5 contact tracers, Passaic County has 25.1 tracers, Cumberland County has 22.1 tracers and Salem County has 24.

Murphy said the goal is to double that threshold—a benchmark he said could likely be reached between the fall and the “end of the year.”

The contact tracing mechanism is a key component to prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19, like a widely anticipated second wave expected to coincide with the fall flu season.

A current resurgence has seen the transmission – or spread – of the virus reach its highest rates in months, peaking at 1.49 last week. That means that for every person who gets COVID-19, they spread it to at least one other person.

It was 0.87 a month ago, Murphy said this past Monday, though data presented on Friday showed it at 1.15.

To stymie the virus’ spread, Murphy expanded the list of states from which travelers into New Jersey should self-quarantine, which now stands at 35 states. Quarantine is voluntary, the governor has maintained.

“Individuals traveling from these states must remain vigilant by proactively getting a COVID-19 test and self-quarantining to prevent additional COVID-19 transmission from spreading throughout New Jersey,” Murphy said this week.

At New Jersey’s airports, primarily Newark Liberty International Airport, travelers from these “COVID-19 hotspot” states are expected to hand over contact information to local health officials who might follow up with them in an effort to prevent outbreaks coming in from over state lines. But, only between 5 and 10 percent of air travelers have actually complied with public health officials – 1,000 surveys daily – according to Persichilli.

In New York, refusal to hand over that data at airports could be met with fines up to $2,000. And this week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said authorities will implement checkpoints at Penn Station, major bridges, and the Hudson River tunnels to ensure compliance with the 14-day self-quarantine.

In response to upticks, Murphy said he was tightening restrictions on indoor gatherings, marking the first restriction he enacted in months to combat the spread of the virus.

“Until we begin to see the numbers of cases decrease – not just for one day, but over at least a seven-day trend – and our rate of transmission drop appreciably over a sustained period of time, these restrictions will remain in place,” the governor warned.