GALESBURG, Illinois — If Knox County Health Officials have a message right now, it's "answer your phone."
"We really want to stop the community spread," said Wil Hayes, Assistant Public Health Administrator for Knox County. "And the best way to do that is to make sure we're capturing all of that information and talking to all the peole who are contacts."
The process is called "contact tracing." When someone tests positive for COVID-19, county health officials will ask them for the name and information for anyone who can be identified as a close contact, those who were within six feet for 15 minutes or more either while the individual was symptomatic or in the 48 hours before they became symptomatic or tested positive.
The contact tracer then reaches out to close contacts, providing a date of exposure and self-quarantine information. The contract tracer will also ask for personal information such as address and other contact information, even symptoms.
The Knox County Health Department has warned that scammers may try to elicit personal information by posing as a contact tracer. There are some things you should know that contact tracers will never ask for:
"Social security card, driver’s license, credit card numbers, anything like that, if anyone is ever telling you they’re going to charge you for something when they’re calling about contact tracing, they’re definitely not a legitimate person," Hayes said.