With the number of COVID-19 cases having skyrocketed in January, Chester County health officials have decided to shift priorities from contact tracing to testing and vaccinations, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

The decision to cease the identification and notification of COVID-19-infected individuals was made after the professionals involved in the task reportedly became overwhelmed by omicron cases.

“Community spread is so high that the public health practices — meaning what we do during contact tracing and the information that gives us (which then leads to communicating formally about quarantining) — is no longer effective,” said County Health Director Jeanne Franklin. “Nor is it practical with the volume of community spread.”

The health department has also asked schools, one of the places where it had previously conducted contact tracing, to cease the practice and focus on assessing students for symptoms and testing.

Franklin emphasized that she has not told schools to stop notifying the community about positive cases. This decision is now up to individual schools.

“If there’s an outbreak in the school, we’re going to do some contact tracing,” she said. “And we may have to ask the school to assist with that.”

Read more about local health officials’ plans in WHYY.