The Manitoba government has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to expand its COVID-19 contact-tracing services.
“It is important that we do everything we can to identify and isolate cases and contacts early, to further limit the spread of the virus and protect those at increased risk,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, in a news release.
“As we prepare to experience ‘hills and valleys’ in the transmission of this virus, ensuring we have the capacity to ramp up contact tracing if needed will help Manitoba’s response and recovery efforts.”
The province says contact tracing is broken up into three main services, and would like to hear how someone could deliver on any combination of those or all three.
Those services are:
- Case investigation, which includes interviewing those with COVID-19 to learn of close contacts, collecting and managing relevant data, and connecting those people with proper resources.
- Contact tracing, which includes notifying close contacts of potential exposure, checking them for symptoms, and referring them for testing and other supports.
- Daily contact, which includes following up daily on cases and contacts, checking for symptoms, and verifying those people are self-isolating.
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The RFP says the ideal provider is “call centre providers with experience in public health contact center services” and “consideration will also be given to proposals from proponents that have provided services in environments with a similar level of complexity.”
“Our government is preparing for what lies ahead to be sure we are ready to live with COVID-19, ready to return to work and ready to return to school,” said Cameron Friesen, Minister of Health, Seniors, and Active Living, in a news release.
“We are moving ahead to add capacity for COVID-19 contact tracing to alert and inform Manitobans in a quick and timely manner, ensuring we are better prepared to respond to and navigate through the COVID challenges ahead.”
Friesen calls the current system “robust,” but says the government must proactively prepare in case need begins to outweigh capacity, given rising case numbers and a potential second wave of the virus later this year.
Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont said the move “falls under the ‘better late than never’ category” in a release.
He also questioned why the province isn’t yet hooked up to the Government of Canada’s existing COVID-19 contact tracing app.
As recently as mid-July, Manitoba’s active caseload was in the single digits, but has increased steadily since then to 247 active cases as of Thursday.
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