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STEUBENVILLE -- In light of a local business making public it was closing its doors temporarily due to employees testing positive for COVID-19, Jefferson County Health Commissioner Nicole Balakos provided some insight on the contact tracing process.
Balakos could not speak about any particular case, but she outlined the process generally.
However, No. 1 Snyder Tire in Wintersville announced its temporary closing due to the virus on its Facebook page during the weekend.
"There are always examples, but (the health department does not) make any public proclamations of businesses," she said, noting the right to do so belongs with the business.
According to Balakos, when an individual tests positive and he or she lives in Jefferson County or works in Jefferson County, the health department is notified by the entity that administered the test along with the individual with COVID-19.
The next step is contact tracing, which she said the county has been doing even though it is not a requirement.
"The health department contacts (the individual who tested positive), gathers information about where you work and your contacts," Balakos said. "We ask who your supervisor is. Then we either notify your direct supervisor or human resource officer, depending on the size of the business. They notify co-workers (without naming the individual) that a co-worker has COVID-19."
She said the health department gets information about what job duties a person had, what kind of schedule the person worked and what kind of contact they had with others.
"That is a part of contact tracing," she said. "We attempt to put together the timeline of where you've been and what you've done."
She said someone working from home is much easier to contact trace, which is why it has been encouraged for those who have the ability to do so. She also said such situations illustrate the importance of social distancing, even at essential businesses.
The guidelines for what constitutes contact come from the Centers for Disease Control and the Ohio Department of Health.
"Depending on where you read, it's close and sustained contact for 10 to 30 minutes," she said. "For instance, if you are checking out at a store, your contact with the cashier was not 10 to 30 minutes."
Balakos said the health department attempts to contact trace those who meet the guidelines of contact.
"It's a best practice and we certainly try to do it," she said, noting in some cases a lack of information makes it difficult.
That is where informing the particular business comes in.
"If you can't recreate that, that is when that business may make an announcement or a posting to alert their customers, and those customers might contact the health department and we would provide them with guidance," Balakos said. "That is the best practice (for the business.)"
She noted it's a balancing act between getting information to those who need it and protecting people's privacy.
"There are privacy concerns," she said. "We never disclose the name of the patient."
"The Ohio Department of Health is putting out information about long-term care facilities," she added. "If you watched Gov. (Mike) DeWine's (press conferences), that was something they went back and forth on for weeks about whether or not that would be released because of whether or not it was a privacy concern.
"It's a big ethical concern within public health. The balance of patient privacy versus the need to know for public health."
She said in Jefferson County, names are shared with the emergency management agency, but they do not share names with law enforcement. A code is used in case an ambulance needs to go out to a positive case.
"It's not a list that is hanging on a wall," she said, noting the county has done so since before it was a requirement.
She said the size of a business and how many employees were exposed and were quarantined would determine if an affected business could open.
"One of the things we recommend to businesses is to separate into teams so that not everyone is there at one time and in contact with one another," Balakos said, noting the practice is used at the health department.