The Australian’s Australian of the Year: COVID-19 contact tracing team

Virus detectives are the unsung heroes of the past 12 months — thousands of lab technicians, contact tracers and epidemiologists racing against the clock.

NSW Health epidemiologists (L to R) Tove Fitzgerald, Jennie Musto, Timmy Lockwood, Jennifer Case and Carolyn Murray. Picture: Nikki Short

Virus detectives are the unsung heroes of the past 12 months — thousands of lab technicians, contact tracers and epidemiologists racing against the clock to stay ahead of the pandemic.

Contact tracers from NSW Health have made more than 228,000 phone calls since March as they try to track the source of the latest infections.

It can be an awkward moment, telling someone they’ve been exposed to the virus, sometimes more difficult still extracting precise information about whom they’ve been with over the past few days.

From unfaithful spouses to migrants working illegally to children hiding secrets from their parents, the team has to build trust with a stranger on the end of the phone to obtain necessary details of their movements in the previous 14 days. Every minute an infected person goes undetected increases the danger of a wider outbreak.

The NSW Health team was described as “gold standard” by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and when Victoria’s overwhelmed contact-tracing team was having difficulties, it sent officials in September last year to study the techniques employed by its northern neighbour.

Most experts agreed it was the decentralised approach to tracing in NSW, spanning 15 districts and allowing closer engagement with the community, that made it top of the class. That, and the quality and dedication of its people.

It starts with the epidemiologists and infectious diseases experts. These specialists, hired from across the globe, spend 14 hours a day monitoring the data from outbreaks to piece together the missing links between cases.

When a new case is discovered, the public health office comes alive. The countdown is on and the team has 48 hours to gather information, or else risk the infection spreading further.

Whiteboards are pulled out and movements mapped in texta to link anyone who could be a close or casual contact and which venues need to be locked down.

That’s when the contract tracers pick up the phone.

Each is trained in how to make calls and given strategies to deal with difficult conversations. Sometimes receiving aggression or resistance from people on the other end of the line, or backlash from sections of the media when a link is missed, the contact tracers have had to develop a thick skin to get the job done.

“There’s a real tax on the mental health of the team which isn’t often recognised,” one contact tracer who wished to remain anonymous said.

“You could spend weeks speaking to someone, hearing the intimate moments of their life, building a rapport with them, only to then hear they’ve passed away from the virus.”

The determination and effort of contact tracers and public health units across the country is reflected in Australia’s world-beating success in controlling the virus. It is a battle that may never be completely won and the tracers aren’t resting on their laurels. There’s still a long road ahead.