NYS DOH: Don’t expect call from a contact tracer

NEW YORK CITY (WHEC) – New York is turning to self-reporting for contact tracing.

Governor Kathy Hochul and acting Commission of Health Dr. Mary Bassett announced Tuesday that the state would be launching websites Wednesday for New Yorkers to add their own information about close contacts. "We’re moving to more self-management and less active outreach," said Dr. Bassett.

The state will still leave it up to local governments as to whether they want to contact trace.

NEW: If you test positive for #COVID19 in New York, you should no longer expect a call from a contact tracer. With 12K new cases per day, it’s impossible to keep up.
NYS leaving it up to county health departments if they want to do it on their own.
@news10nbc

— Jennifer Lewke (@WHEC_JLewke) January 11, 2022

Dr. Bassett says the change will help state and local health officials focus on where they can make a difference, testing and vaccination.

The state sites when they launch will be ny.gov/isolation and ny.gov/quarantine, according to Dr. Bassett.

Monroe County sent the statement below following the county’s announcement:

"The Monroe County Department of Public Health is reviewing detailed guidance from New York State regarding COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing. Discussions about continuation of local contact tracing are underway, and Dr. Mendoza will comment on this later in the week. Monroe County has already implemented self-serve options at www.MonroeCounty.gov, enabling individuals to report their positive test results or COVID-19 exposures and obtain Isolation or Mandatory Quarantine order and release documents."

Ontario County made self-fillable isolation and quarantine orders became available on the Ontario County Public Health website Tuesday.

Watch the full press conference in the video in the player below (mobile users, click here):