Basics
An infectious respiratory disease caused by a new (novel) coronavirus.
COVID-19 or COronaVIrus Disease-2019
A person under the age of 18.
A Minor
The United States' federal health protection organization and a major operating component of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC
The company which manufactures a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
Johnson & Johnson
The practice of keeping people exposed to an infectious disease away from other healthy people to stop its accidental spread.
Quarantine
An infected person not showing any signs of disease or illness.
Asymptomatic
A person who was within range of someone who tested positive for COVID-19—for 15 minutes or more at a distance of fewer than 6 feet. This person must follow Quarantine guidance.
Close Contact or Contact (on CTMS=Individual Exposure or IE)
A federal law requiring the protection of sensitive health information from being disclosed without a patient's consent.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA
The person or persons legally responsible for a minor under the age of 18.
Parent or Guardian
Two companies manufacturing two-dose COVID-19 vaccines.
Moderna and Pfizer
Separating sick people from healthy people to prevent spreading illness
Isolation
This period of time is the average length of Quarantine and Isolation periods.
5 days (previous guidance 10 days)
Another term for Close Contact—used in CTMS.
Individual Exposure or IE
The practice of maintaining privacy and protection of information, including not providing the infected person’s identity to Contacts.
Confidentiality
This team member calls Close Contacts who have been exposed to a COVID-19 in order to prevent accidental transmission and provides the official quarantine order, educational guidance, and resources as needed.
Outbound Contact Tracer (OB-CT)
A secure, online database that facilitates electronic transferral of public health surveillance data from the healthcare system (labs) to public health departments.
National Electronic Disease Surveillance System or NEDSS
An online service Close Contacts utilize for self-monitoring and reporting symptoms.
Sara Alert
A secure, cloud-based digital system used to manage Contact Tracing efforts in Pennsylvania.
CTMS or Contact Tracing Management System
A person who has received a positive COVID-19 test result or is showing symptoms after close contact with a COVID-19 Case. This person also follows Isolation guidance.
Case
Information that may directly or indirectly identify an individual (i.e., name, address, date of birth, etc.).
Personally Identifiable Information or PII
This team member answers incoming COVID-19 calls from 1-877-PA-HEALTH line (opt. 1).
Inbound Contact Tracer (IB-CT)
People are considered _____ _____ 2 weeks after their second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or 2 weeks after a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
Fully vaccinated
A Bluetooth-based smartphone app that Pennsylvanians can use to send notifications of potential exposures in order to protect each other as we slow the spread of COVID-19.
COVID Alert PA app or Mobile app
The term for the identification, monitoring, and support of people who have been exposed to—and possibly infected with—the virus that causes COVID-19.
Contact Tracing
Someone who was tested—and which a laboratory test confirmed—to have COVID-19.
Case, Confirmed Case or Confirmed COVID-19 Case
Personally Identifiable Information re: the past, present, or future health status of an individual that is created, collected, transmitted, or maintained in any form of media (i.e., paper, electronic, etc.) by a HIPAA-covered entity.
Protected Health Information or PHI
This team member contacts high-risk Cases listed in NEDSS, reviews their symptoms, the Case’s health status, and provides Isolation orders.
Case Investigator or CI
Secure, cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and the online system used to build CTMS.
Salesforce
A digital questionnaire used to complete a Case Investigation for non-high-risk Cases.
The Connect and Protect form
The way Contact Tracers and Case Investigators refer to people living in the same residence.
A Household
A person who was exposed to an individual with COVID-19 and who now shows COVID-19 symptoms but who does not have a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.
Probable Case
A person who has the authority to represent someone else, like a parent/guardian, caregiver, court-appointed advocate.
A Proxy
This team member calls Positive Cases—who are NOT high-risk cases—to provide Isolation guidance and sends the Connect & Protect form to those Cases to complete Case Investigation and to gather Close Contacts.
CIQ, Case Investigation Questionnaire (CIQ) team member
A type of COVID-19 test that is the dominant way global healthcare systems are testing for COVID-19, mostly conducted via a long nasal swab.
PCR test (Polymerase Chain Reaction test)
The spread of an illness within a particular location— like a neighborhood or town—where there is no clear source of contact or infection.
Community spread
A branch of medicine which studies disease and community spread.
Epidemiology or Epi