Dear Colleague:
I ask your help in assisting the Hamilton County Health Department with its epidemiological efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community.
The problem experienced by the Health Department is that some local provider offices are reporting their positive COVID-19 cases directly to the Tennessee Department of Health. This creates a lag time that delays our local Epidemiology team’s ability to isolate, quarantine, and conduct timely contact tracing.
As you know, you are required to report the results of any testing for COVID-19 to the state. However, the local Health Department does the investigations of these cases and it is important to start this process as early as possible in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
To reduce this time lag, we ask you to report positive cases directly to the Hamilton County Health Department as soon as you receive them by faxing the lab report and demographic information to our Epidemiology Department at (423)209-8191.
Thank you for your help. Know that you can reach out to me anytime, but if you have any questions about reporting COVID-19, please call our Epidemiology team directly at (423) 209-8190
Sincerely,
Paul M. Hendricks, M.D.
Health Officer