The Wyoming Department of Health announced Tuesday that a “Community Protection Initiative” team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has arrived in Wyoming for a temporary mission related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist said that she invited the CDC team to supplement the work her staff is doing to help slow and limit the spread of COVID-19 in Wyoming, reports Sheridan Media.
Dr. Harrist said that the CDC indicated an interest in directing some of their staff toward protecting areas with relatively low levels of COVID-19 infections. She said that five CDC team members will support the Department of Health through added efforts involving data systems and data analysis; prevention, infection control and containment of infections in long-term care facilities and psychiatric facilities; community mitigation and infection prevention control among tribal communities and case identification and contact tracing.
Department of Health Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit Manager Clay Van Houten said that contact tracing involves following up to identify those close contacts of laboratory confirmed and probable cases to see who might also be at an increased risk of the illness. He said that they offer advice to those close contacts and use quarantine and isolation orders to help protect communities from further spread of the virus.
