How much can contact tracing stop the spread of COVID?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-06-08 10:17

New Zealand

PHOTO: CDC/Unsplash

Modelling by NZ researchers has quantified the role contact tracing plays in stopping the spread of COVID-19, based on NZ data. In the best-case scenario, these measures can reduce the spread of the virus by 60 per cent, but this drops to 40 per cent when identified contacts don't isolate correctly or if some contacts aren't traced. The author team says improving the speed and capacity of contact tracing systems is likely to be more cost-effective than enforcing social distancing measures for a long time. However, the authors say it’s crucial there is social support such as paid leave entitlements to make sure that people who’ve been identified actually stay home and isolate.

Media release

From:

Journal/
conference: PLOS One

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Canterbury, Te Pūnaha Matatini, University of Auckland, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, University of Otago, Hutt Valley District Health Board

Funder: Funding: This work was funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand and Te Pūnaha Matatini, the New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems. Competing interests: This paper was written in Dr Verrall’s capacity as Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago, not in her capacity as a candidate for Parliament. The views in this paper are not necessarily the views of the New Zealand Labour Party. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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