Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 25, 2020
Date Accepted: Feb 10, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Feb 23, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Evaluation of TellYourContacts.org, a Patient-Initiated Digital COVID-19 Contact Notification Tool
ABSTRACT
Background:
Contact notification is a method used to control the spread of infectious disease by alerting close contacts of possible exposure. Digital contact notification allows for notification via SMS and email.
Objective:
This study evaluated TellYourContacts.org, a COVID-19 digital contact notification website that can be used either confidentially or anonymously.
Methods:
We performed a descriptive analysis of the feasibility and use of TellYourContacts.org from May 18th to August 17th, 2020. A testing lab and results disclosure service encouraged patients who tested positive for COVID-19 to use TellYourContacts.org through notifications. We collected website data through Google Analytics and used Microsoft Excel to record the data of website users, types of messages sent, and location of the senders.
Results:
Over the course of three months, 9,130 users accessed the website and sent a total of 1,952 messages. Of those messages, users sent 1,815 (93%) SMS messages and 137 (7%) emails. Users sent messages from 40 states, with the majority of United States senders from California (49%).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that TellYourContacts.org is a promising and accessible patient-led digital contact notification method for those who test positive for COVID-19 in the United States. TellYourContacts.org allows for an additional means to assist in contact notification, thereby increasing the overall number of contacts notified of COVID-19 exposure.
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Copyright
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