8336410305

I'm making calls from this number. I am a contact tracer. I am calling you from the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health. We already have your info in our files, and we are viewing it on our computer screens when we call you; we just need to verify that the person we are talking to, is the person we are calling. HIPAA privacy laws require us to do that before we can discuss your Covid-19 status. We don't want to give out your information to someone who is not you, so we make sure we are talking to the right person first by asking you to verify the information we are seeing on our computer. It is the information that you recorded when you got tested for Covid-19. You filled out a form to get that test done. If you test positive, that info is sent to the L.A. County Dept. of Public Health, and someone like me will call you to interview you about your symptoms, people you have come into contact with that you might have infected, and we also offer to help you get things you need, like free groceries, free dental and medical healthcare, and help paying rent, mortgage, and bills. Those necessities are provided by organizations outside the DPH and are provided on an availability basis. The County is paying for people to stay at a hotel and get free meals during their isolation period of they don't have enough room to isolate in their home. If we call people you have come into contact with, we never identify you as the one who gave us their contact info, that is against the law. Your info and identity are always kept private. We are just trying to reach as many people as possible and inform them about what they need to do to stay safe and protect others around them, to help slow the spread of the virus. If too many people get it, all at the same time, it will overwhelm the healthcare system and could cause society in general to shut down because too many people are out sick with the virus. If too many people are sick at the same time, they might not be able to get the care they need, and they might not survive. Also, the more data we can collect about the virus, its symptoms, and how severe they are, the more we understand about who the virus affects the most, and how it affects them, and that leads to more and better treatments. The interview can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, but it's for a good cause, so I hope that you will all take the time to participate. I hope this helps.