LOFT Report Shows Oklahoma State Department Of Health Falls Short In Contact Tracing Efforts

The Oklahoma State Department of Health’s COVID-19 contact tracing is coming under fire. The criticism comes from a newly released report that claims the tracing didn't work.

The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) laid out three main ripple effects of the OSDH's short comings on contact tracing.

The OSDH is quoted in the report stating, “history will not look kindly upon contact tracing” and it's “old-fashioned public health and epidemiology stuff.”

LOFT said three things are needed to create an effective contact tracing program. Leadership, organization, and public trust. During the meeting, LOFT pointed out where the OSDH has flaws in each aspect.

In the almost 70-page LOFT report, it claims the OSDH didn't have the contact tracing info to measure how well mitigation efforts worked. The lack of making data available affected policy makers' ability to create COVID related policies. Lastly, the state health department knew before the pandemic, that it's contact tracing abilities were not up to par.

During the OSDH's lowest point of contact tracing, the amount of COVID cases being investigated dropped by 65% as cases grew exponentially. The OSDH cited out of date technology and not enough investigators to handle the sharp spike in cases for the low numbers.

OU's Chair of Public Health said a lack of public trust, that 3rd pillar can also be to blame. OSDH however said they put out contract tracing information, and publicly toured a tracing site with Gov. Stitt in an effort to create public trust. Some policies, and gaps in communication between officials and the public also proved to be a barrier as well.

"Learn how to take that information and turn it into a form that people can understand so I completely agree public trust is very important and the communication around that," Dr. Dale Bratzler of OU said. “If a frontline employee was exposed to somebody, we needed to quarantine them which often meant that they went on leave with no pay, so people did avoid contact tracing."

Bratzler also pointed out some unused resources could have helped lessen the load on OSDH contact tracers.

"If there's anything history isn't going to look good on it's the fact that we have many electronic tools that we simply decided not to use. I know privacy concerns are a thing but there is the availability of apps," explained Bratzler.

The OSDH released a statement following the meeting:

Statement attributed to Dr. Lance Frye, Interim State Commissioner of Health

“Right now, Oklahoma is facing a public health crisis unmatched by any in the past few decades. The challenges we’ve faced have been incredible — and so have the lessons learned.

There has never been a greater opportunity in our state or nation to rethink how we deliver critical public health services. We’re grateful for the opportunity to do so with the findings in the LOFT report.

No doubt there were a multitude of challenges with contact tracing in Oklahoma, the United States and throughout the world over the course of the COVID-19 response. Experts have noted that by May 2020, contact tracing cases were overwhelmed in the United States due to rising cases. Contact tracing is only one of many aspects to mitigating a pandemic like COVID-19. To evaluate the state’s response based entirely on contact tracing ignores key components of our multifaceted public health response.

While we should and will strive to improve upon all aspects of our response, we also believe the most important measure of a state’s pandemic response is lives saved. Despite incredible challenges, Oklahoma is among the top states in the nation for COVID fatalities per 100,000, often performing better than the model contact tracing states discussed in this report.

We also agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted existing pressing needs for our state’s public health infrastructure, especially with technology. The PHIDDO system is outdated and did not allow for the most timely information. We have been working to improve that infrastructure and are now working on a number of additional solutions that are in line with the committee’s stated recommendations.

While we agree our technology falls short of where it needs to be, we have done everything in our power and within our legal rights to share data transparently with Oklahomans. We must balance transparency and access to information with confidentiality and privacy of individuals as outlined by statutory law. There are very specific legal circumstances under which health information related to COVID-19 can be disclosed.

In summary: OSDH’s data infrastructure and contact tracing capabilities are among the agency’s top priorities for improvement.

We thank the LOFT committee for their hard work to evaluate the state’s processes and help ensure the best possible public health response for Oklahomans.

Honest, detailed feedback is critical to protecting and preserving the health of Oklahomans. We look forward to working with LOFT, members of the Oklahoma Legislature on this project and others to this end.”