Bartholomew County extends contact tracing contract

Bartholomew County is extending its contract for COVID-19 contact tracing through mid-July, but health officials are hoping that it can end after that.

Amanda Organist with the county health department, explained to the Bartholomew County Commissioners Monday that since the start of the pandemic the state has taken the lead on contact tracing of those who test positive for COVID-19. But after that initial round of attempts to identify who the patient may have contacted, those follow ups have been delegated to the county level health departments.

Bartholomew County has hired a contractor to take over those calls and commissioners on Monday morning approved a contract to extend that contract through July 16th. Organist said that the hope is for the county to be able to handle the duties internally after that.