{"id":44087,"date":"2021-10-25T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-backs-off-contact-tracing-amid-surge-san-juan-basin-moves-forward\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:17:17","slug":"montezuma-county-backs-off-contact-tracing-amid-surge-san-juan-basin-moves-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-backs-off-contact-tracing-amid-surge-san-juan-basin-moves-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma County backs off contact tracing amid surge; San Juan Basin moves forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Free
Free COVID-19 testing will be going on until 3 p.m. today at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. No appointment is necessary, and no symptoms are required. Anyone can get tested.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The use of contact tracing to control the recent surge of COVID-19 infections varies from county to county.<\/p>\n

The Montezuma County Health Department has reduced its contact tracing efforts for every positive case, while San Juan Basin Public Health, which serves La Plata and Archuleta counties, is more committed to the practice.<\/p>\n

\"Bobbi
Bobbi Lock<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Montezuma County Health Department officials have not responded to interview requests about its contact tracing, but Director Bobbi Lock released a statement in response to written questions from The Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to the vaccine availability and other effective treatments for COVID-19, contact tracing was one of the many important tools for containing the spread of the virus,\u201d along with prevention measures such as social distancing and mask wearing, Lock stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early phases of an epidemic, this is typically very successful as proven by our use of this technique last year in its traditional form,\u201d she said. \u201cAt this point in time in our community, contact tracing is not as effective due to the severity of the disease spread.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lock said when there is a positive case, the health department provides information and encourages the person to notify close contacts about their positive status.<\/p>\n

When people learn they were in close contact with a positive case, they are encouraged to reach out to the health department for further guidance and information, Lock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have conversations around vaccine availability, and make sure everyone knows that we are here to support them in whatever decisions they make for themselves and their families,\u201d Lock stated.<\/p>\n

\"In
In this file photo Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria gave a statement about the status of the pandemic. County health department Director Bobbi Lock and Dr. Kent Aikin attended in support of the announcement. (Courtesy Montezuma County)<\/span>Courtesy Montezuma County<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lock said contact tracing is still a tool the county department uses in managing the disease, and is applied \u201con a case-by-case basis depending on each situation and the needs that surround that particular case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lock\u2019s statement Friday came two days after the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 166 new cases in Montezuma County since Oct. 14, an increase of 39% from the previous seven days.<\/p>\n

Six active COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported in the county as of Oct. 21, according to CDPHE data.<\/p>\n

One of the outbreaks, at the Montezuma County Detention Center, doubled in size in a week, increasing to 28 cases and including two staff members.<\/p>\n

And on Thursday, Montezuma-Cortez High School shut down its volleyball program through Oct. 25 because of multiple cases of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

CDPHE defines an \u201coutbreak\u201d of COVID-19 as five or more positive tests at a single location within 14 days.<\/p>\n

San Juan Basin embraces strategy<\/div>\n

At San Juan Basin Health department, the aim is to conduct contract tracing on 100% of positive cases reported in its jurisdiction, said Executive Director Liane Jollon, in an interview with The Journal <\/em> Friday.<\/p>\n

When case volume is high, text services are also used to inform people they might have been exposed, then follow-up calls are made.<\/p>\n

\"Liane
Liane Jollon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe want to let people know as quickly as possible if they have been exposed. In our experience, getting that information out has a tremendous impact on limiting the spread,\u201d Jollon said.<\/p>\n

She said when local case numbers get too high for staff to handle, contact tracing support has been provided by CDPHE.<\/p>\n

San Juan Basin has retained additional staff for case investigations, which includes contact tracing. Funding was made available through state and federal grants.<\/p>\n

Contact tracing leads to increased testing and isolation measures for people exposed to COVID, and it increases vaccine rates, said Elizabeth Ferguson, communications specialist for San Juan Basin Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like an old-fashioned approach, but it is one of the most effective means to control the spread, especially with the delta variant, that has a higher transmission rate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The contact tracing calls also saves the infected person energy, and are done professionally and with confidentiality, Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

Further, she said, most people reached through contact tracing have been receptive, she said.<\/p>\n

Equity outreach programs to prevent and treat COVID were formed in La Plata and Archuleta counties to meet the needs of underserved populations, such as the homeless.<\/p>\n

Neal Cantin, a Mancos resident, has urged Montezuma County to commit more to contact tracing to control the virus spread.<\/p>\n

He said he believes he became infected with COVID while volunteering at a local school, and he was dismayed to find that Montezuma County health officials had made contact tracing a reduced priority.<\/p>\n

Cantin said he was told by a health department representative that he should contact people he had been near about his positive test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel they are passing the burden of public health onto the infected individual with the illness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cantin added that he also would like to see the county health department resume posting case numbers on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunication is key. People need that data to make decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

COVID case numbers per county are updated regularly on the CDPHE website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CDPHE responds<\/div>\n

The Journal <\/em> reached out to CDPHE with questions regarding contact tracing.<\/p>\n

In email responses Friday, CDPHE stated: \u201cLocal public health agencies lead contact tracing and case investigation for cases in their jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, local public health agencies received funding through the federal Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity cooperative agreement to sustain and increase their case investigation and contact tracing resources, CDPHE said. The money is intended to be used for case investigation, contact tracing, outbreak investigation, and testing efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cCase investigation, contact tracing, and outbreak investigation are required activities in the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity funding contract provided to local public health agencies,\u201d according CDPHE.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montezuma health officials counting on infected residents to warn others <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[493,685,28,475,60,29,445,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-archuleta-county","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85963,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44087\/revisions\/85963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44087"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}