(WSIL) -- Southern Seven Health Department (S7HD) wants residents to be aware of new changes to the COVID-19 Contact Tracing process that the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) launched.
All individuals who take a lab-based COVID-19 test and receive a positive result will be first contacted with a text message to the cell phone number they provide as their point of contact. This text message initializing the Contact Tracing process is part of a broader change IDPH is scheduled to implement by mid-January.
The new message will display the following text:
‘IDPH COVID: There is important info for you. Call 312-777-1999 or click:
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The new text message being sent by IDPH does not confirm your test results or display other sensitive information.
You can opt to call IDPH at the number listed in the message or wait to be contacted by a member of S7HD’s Contact Tracing Team. You can also visit the web address included in the message for helpful tips on what to do after receiving a positive COVID-19 test result.
“We’re still waiting on final details of how the state’s new Contact Tracing process is going to work,� said Nathan Ryder, Community Outreach Coordinator for S7’s COVID-19 response team. “For now we know that IDPH is hoping to make the Contact Tracing process more centralized so that our team members can spend more time focusing on outbreaks and other COVID-19 critical care situations that may occur across our seven county region. We believe this is all part of the process to wind down the pandemic response and move to an endemic-type response.�
