MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Two years into the pandemic, health departments are shifting their response to COVID-19 cases.
Because of the high number of cases in Madison County and inadequate staffing, public health officials say they will no longer be notifying those who test positive for COVID-19.
Instead of making calls to everyone who tests positive, they're now relying on people to look at the results from their testing site and follow guidelines already established.
"As those cases grew, it was just too hard to keep up that level of individualized care and attention," said Kelley McBride, public information officer for the Madison County Health Department.
It's a sign of a major shift in pandemic response from public health officials moving away from universal case investigation and contact tracing, choosing instead to investigate cases in higher-risk settings.
They're putting more responsibility on the public: trusting by now they know what to do.
"However, if people don't have access to online information, we're happy to answer their questions here at the health department. We're available, we've always been a resource, and we will continue to be a resource during the pandemic. But just that the numbers of cases made it very hard to give that individualized attention," said McBride.
