Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2
virus. The novel virus was first identified from an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in
December 2019.It is transmitted when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets
and small airborne particles containing the virus. With the alarming effect and high
transmission COVID-19 to communities, government health departments uses contact
tracing as a strategy to halt the transmission.
Contract tracing is an effective method used by our government to help prevent the
spread of an infectious disease like COVID19 within a community. According to WHO,
“Contact tracing is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who
have been exposed to someone who has been infected with the COVID-19 virus.” The
incubation period the disease lasted for 2 – 15 days upon exposure to the virus.
Officials identify people who are infected with the disease and the people in whom
they’ve come in contact, then notify them to and direct them to self-quarantine and the
infected individual to undergo isolation. Infected individuals present vary signs and
symptoms of COVID-19 like fever, chills, cough, fatigue, headache, loss of taste and
smell, sore throat, runny nose, vomiting, etc. Positive individuals who experiencing
chest pains, shortness of breath, and pale or bluish discoloration of the skin need
immediate care. With the help of technological innovation, contact tracing becomes
easier. Effective communication in the process is essential to be able to achieve your
goal---to prevent the spread of the virus.
Public health experts say that one of most important goal in battling this pandemic while
waiting for the treatment is to slow the spread of the coronavirus so that the number of
people who require medical attention doesn't overwhelm hospitals. In line with this,
testing got off to a slow start, limiting efforts to isolate those with the COVID-19 disease
and quarantine those people who had physical contact with them. Isolation and
quarantine are public health practices that are used to prevent the transmission of
COVID-19. These terms are interchangeably use but in truth they are different from
each other. Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who
are not sick, while quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were
exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. Isolation and quarantine
process must be strictly followed to contain the virus.
In this time of global pandemic, learning about COVID-19 contact tracing is an essential
skill to help our government in battling it. To be educated and informed of the process I
am able to use my power as a fireman to help our government reach the goal in
preventing the spread of the virus in the community. Isolation is important to those
people who are infected and quarantine to those contact people. Lockdowns imposed
by the government was beneficial also. Building rapport and effective communication
with the people in delivering our services can greatly impact our performance to
accomplish our job. Thus, contact tracing skill should be thought to my fellow firefighters
to increase their knowledge about COVID-19 and to upgrade their skill as a firefighter so
that we can save more lives in the future.
As a firefighter and a frontliner, the skill of contact tracing is not only useful in the
pandemic era. In our daily lives, as we exposed ourselves to others because we are
serving others, we are prone to different communicable disease not only COVID-19. If
we or anyone became infected with communicable disease, we are able to educate
them on how they can stop the transmission of the disease. Through this, we as a
servant for the people can greatly have impact to the life of others by sparing
themselves of the disease. Contact tracing is not a new method. It’s been used before
to prevent the transmission different communicable disease like Ebola. But, this became
popular to us because of the COVID-19 pandemic which we are have role in the battle.
The pandemic is not finished yet. Cases are still rising in different parts of the world.
Luckily in our country the cases has been deescalating with the full effort our
government by vaccinating its citizen and continuously practicing health protocols like
wearing facemask. As a fireman, the lessons I’ve learned from this COVId-19 contract
tracing class is irreplaceable. If the pandemic continues, I am one point ahead to those
people who never had the knowledge of contact tracing when helping others. I am
proud of myself to be able to achieve my certificate in COVID-19 contact tracing. The
following months will be unpredictable, but I am sure about my capability to handle the
situation because of the learning I gained from the class.
