Since the outbreak of COVID-19, most of society has become familiar with the term “contact tracing.” This is a little like detective work for contagious diseases. In a nutshell, trained professionals interview those who have been infected to find out who they may have been in contact with since contracting the disease. Then, these people are informed they may have been exposed, and are encouraged to self-quarantine to stop the further spread of disease.

NSIN has partnered with Womack Army Medical Center / Fort Bragg to present this Mindsumo Challenge.

At Fort Bragg, the existing procedure for contact tracing is as follows:

1- When a positive COVID-19 case is identified, a public health nurse contacts the individual to obtain details on symptoms, risk factors, contacts, etc.

2- A contact tracing team follows up with those who were in contact with the infected individual to obtain more information and provide guidance/education to those who may have been exposed.

3- There can be up to several dozen contacts that need to be reached per positive case, and this process is carried out and recorded using phone calls and spreadsheets.

Applications have now closed.

Timeline

01 MAY: Online Challenge Opens

29 MAY: Online Challenge Closes