EMU Today

YPSILANTI – Kennedy Dixon, an Eastern Michigan University student in her junior year as a public health major in the EMU Honors program, has been selected by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services to conduct contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beverly Mihalko, PhD, MPH, and an associate professor of health administration at EMU notes that contact tracing is a process designed to slow community spread of an infectious pathogen — like the coronavirus — by reaching out to persons that a COVI-19 positive patient has recently had contact with.

Current CDC guidelines for that process include household members, intimate partners, caregivers of COVID-19 patients in a household and anyone who's had close contact (six feet or closer) “for a prolonged period of time” with the infected person.

Dixon, said she’s excited to be able to perform such a key role in her chosen field while still in school.

“It will be my first real (hands-on) work in the field of public health,” she said.  

With contact tracing, when someone tests positive for the coronavirus, a public health worker calls them to inquire if they need any assistance, if they are self-isolating, and to determine who they have had recent contact with.

Once that list of contacts is completed, the public health worker will begin contact tracing, or calling each contact on the list to inform them that they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The guidance provided to the "contacts" will vary depending on the type of contact they had with the infected person. Instructions could include self-quarantine for 14 days if the contact was exposed to a person exhibiting symptoms of the virus (such as coughing). Self-monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19 infection for 14 days is recommended if they were only in the same room as the infected person.

The public health worker will continue to follow up with each contact to monitor them for signs of COVID 19 and what to do if they develop symptoms.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves nearly 18,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and, its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.