The rapid influx of new covid-19 cases in Allegheny County has resulted in changes to the health department’s case investigation procedure, as overwhelmed case investigators and contact tracers work to keep up with the pace of the virus.

“They haven’t been able to reach every case, and they’re spending less time on the phone with the cases they do reach,” said Dr. Debra Bogen, director of the Allegheny County Health Department.

The ideal phone call between a case investigator with the health department should be 30 to 60 minutes, Bogen said, but that’s just not feasible with thousands of new cases each week. She said investigators and tracers work into the night each day.

Instead, case investigators who do get a hold of someone who has tested positive speak briefly with them and then direct them to a secure and confidential online form to collect the rest of the information.

“Even with that, not everyone will be reached,” Bogen said, asking for those who have tested positive but not received a call to please follow isolation guidance and begin reaching out to their own close contacts.

The rapid rise in cases has affected case investigation and contact tracing at every level. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week issued new guidance suggesting state health departments begin prioritizing certain investigations.

In Pennsylvania, the Department of Health will follow that guidance, officials announced Tuesday.

As cases in Allegheny County have risen, so too have hospital admissions and deaths. Bogen said the county averaged around 50 deaths in both September and October. As of Wednesday, November has already seen 64 deaths.

“Modeling predicts that we will lose more members of our community in the coming weeks and months,” she said.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald pointed to the death this week of Clifton Pitts, Director of the Mon Valley People Action Committee. He said the numbers start to run together, but each death is someone who was loved.

“Everybody in the Mon Valley knew Clifton,” Fitzgerald said. “He touched a lot of people for many many years.”

Both Fitzgerald and Bogen again pleaded for residents to follow last week’s stay-at-home advisory and stay home on Thanksgiving. They did not issue any new advisories or orders.

“There’s always going to be controversy on this,” Fitzgerald said. “Was enough closed, was too much closed – these decisions are not made easily, but we’ve got to somehow bend this curve and lower this spread, otherwise we’re going to have many more fatalities, more people that we love our going to be missed, our hospital system will be overrun and we’ll be in much more dire circumstances.”

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