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Whether It's Plague or COVID-19, Contact Tracing is Key

Steve Baragona

   One August day in 2017, a 31-year-old man with a cough boarded a
   crowded minibus in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo.

   The man was dead before he could reach his destination.

   That touched off the most [1]lethal outbreak of pneumonic plague in
   decades. By the end of November, more than 2,400 people had been
   infected and 209 had died.

   Basketball teams from around the Indian Ocean region were in Madagascar
   at the time for a championship tournament. A coach from the Seychelles
   died and a South African player fell ill. The risk of an international
   outbreak loomed.

   To stamp it out, health officials needed to break the chains of
   transmission: find the people who had come into contact with each
   infected individual and prevent them from spreading the disease to
   anyone else.

   It's known as contact tracing. It's the same task that experts now say
   the United States must dramatically increase as COVID-19 lockdowns
   loosen. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.

   COVID-19 infections will inevitably increase in the coming weeks, they
   say, and a work force must be standing by to stop new patients from
   rekindling a widespread outbreak. Tiny Madagascar's experience could
   provide the U.S. and other countries with valuable lessons and
   insights.

References

   1. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/259556/Ex-PlagueMadagascar04122017.pdf;jsessionid=AAAFFE4BE28CA63BA0FE55E4A220226B?seq

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