Even as the numbers of COVID-19 positive patients across the country begins to rise, experts have sounded the alarm on one key aspect of curbing its spread: contact tracing. This refers to the process of contacting all those who may have potentially been exposed to the virus by the patient. Health Departments of various states have been utilising the help of the police department and municipalities to get in touch with primary contacts of those who have contracted the coronavirus.
Though the states have their own task forces to execute contact tracing, in order to carry out this enormous task, public support too is required. This begs the question of why some states in the south, especially Tamil Nadu and Telangana, don’t release route maps of COVID-19 positive patients? Route maps trace the travel history of a patient, where they have been, who they may have potentially come in contact with.
States like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have been regularly releasing route maps to the public with details such as the exact venue the patient was at (like bus stop, flight, restaurant), the area and the time when they were there. The duration of the time they spent at the venue is also key to assessing how prolonged the potential exposure was.
These route maps have been published by the Kerala government, encouraging members of the public who were also there at the time to come forward, especially if they show symptoms.
Andhra Pradesh, too, has diligently released route maps of patients, detailing their movements with flight names, seat numbers, cab numbers and the symptoms developed over time. The mode of transportation and duration of travel, communicated through the media, have been important in the state's efforts to quarantine and monitor potential cases.
Karnataka, with a total of 74 patients as of Saturday, has not released route maps since the numbers of positive cases grew. The last route map released was for Patient 15 on March 24. However, Karnataka has been putting out messages about the modes of transport that a patient travelled in, alerting other passengers. They have also released an app which traces the movement of patients.
Finding the primary contacts of these infected patients as soon as possible is necessary to isolate them to prevent secondary spread and thus, community transmission. This is especially important if the patients have visited a number of public places like shops, restaurants and places of worship.
However, among the southern states, Tamil Nadu has not released any route maps of patients in the state.
In Telangana too, route maps have not been forthcoming from the government in the public domain. Of the 59 cases the state has reported so far, only two have been given route maps. While route maps are important to trace, for example, co-passengers on a train, they are also useful in alerting authorities in other states about the workers on platforms, train compartments, etc. who may have contracted the virus.