(NPR) Do-It-Yourself Contact Tracing Is A 'Last Resort' In Communities Besieged By COVID-19

Do-It-Yourself Contact Tracing Is A 'Last Resort' In Communities Besieged By COVID-19

Eileen Carroll, left, sits for a portrait as her daughter, Lily, 11, attends school remotely from their home in Warwick, R.I. on Dec. 16. When Carroll's other daughter tested positive for the coronavirus, state health officials told her to notify anyone her daughter might have been around. Contact tracers, she was told, were simply too overwhelmed to do it.



David Goldman/AP


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David Goldman/AP

Shots - Health News

Do-It-Yourself Contact Tracing Is A 'Last Resort' In Communities Besieged By COVID-19

The coronavirus is spreading so fast that cases are outpacing the contact-tracing capacities of some local health departments. Some have asked people who test positive to do their own contact tracing.