Oklahoma Ramps Up COVID-19 Contact Tracing

Oklahoma Ramps Up COVID-19 Contact Tracing

On Friday, public health officials in Oklahoma announced that the state will start using text messages for contact tracing.

Gizmodo reports that this will allow alerts to be sent to people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 by patients that have tested positive.

In a press release, the Oklahoma State Department of Health said that the text method will require contacts to "Fill out their own contact tracing interview form, receive specific quarantine-related messaging, and acquire a letter of exclusion without ever interacting with a contact tracer.” Oklahoma’s Governor, Kevin Stitt, became the first U.S. state leader to share that he'd tested positive for coronavirus on July 15.

While the text messaging is a new step, Gizmodo says that it highlights the fact that the U.S. is still months behind other wealthy countries when it comes to fighting Covid-19.