This is a press release from Bloomfield Township. Press releases are official statements that have not been independently verified.
The Bloomfield Health and Human Services Department has
outlined step by step what the contact tracing process entails for
residents that test positive for COVID-19. The purpose of contact tracing,
is to retrace a person’s steps leading up to the positive diagnosis and to
reach out to all people that may have been exposed to them.
“Making sure that we quickly identify positive cases in our community and
figure out who those people were in contact with is key for us to flatten
the curve,” said Mayor Michael Venezia. “That is why starting Thursday, we
will begin to test residents free of charge at various locations in town
and anyone that does test positive will be interviewed right away.”
When a person tests positive for COVID-19, the Public Health Department
will contact that person by phone to begin the contact tracing interview
process. The interview in total should take between 10-15 minutes.
“The contact tracing process combined with increased testing is the best
way for us to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Bloomfield,” said Health
Director Karen Lore. “The interview does not take much time and we ask that
any residents that test positive cooperate with our tracers.”
All information is kept confidential and residents are strongly encouraged
to share information to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 cases in the
community. Citizenship information will not be discussed as part of the
interview process.
To prevent possible scams, residents should be aware that they will never
be asked for a social security number or bank information. The Bloomfield
nursing and investigation team will always identify themselves by name and
explain that they are calling from the Bloomfield Department of Health and
Human Services. Anyone that suspects someone is attempting to scam them
should contact the Bloomfield Police Department’s non-emergency number at
973-680-4141.
For more information about contact tracing, please visit
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/principles-contact-tracing.html. If
you are interested in becoming a contact tracer, visit
covid19.nj.gov/forms/tracer.
