CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday the state is building a tech-based approach to contact tracing.
“That way larger health departments can assist where smaller departments need help,” Pritzker said.
Through the Illinois Contact Tracing Initiative, an app will be used by a COVID positive person and their contact, and will be used to keep in touch with their local health department.
If an individual is contacted saying they were exposed to someone with COVID-19, the name of who has the virus will not be shared.
“It can be a very effective weapon against COVID-19,” Pritzker said.
The app is one of three component parts of the initiative.
There will be a disease reporting software that can take information from across the state, and aggregate information from many sources.
A common management platform will be used as a unified way for public health officials across the state to investigate and trace contact.
Because of the growth of tests, increased cases, and lack of funding, local health departments could not keep up with contact tracing, the governor said.
Only about 29% of cases are in a tracing process. Pritzker said that number needs to be at 60%, the industry standard.
“Given the sheer scale of our population’s widespread susceptibility to COVID-19, we can’t get there with our existing infrastructure, alone,” he explained as the reason for the new program.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike with the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,294 new confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the state’s total to 96,485. Ezike also reported 59 additional deaths, adding up to 4,234 lives lost in Illinois related to the virus.
