Updated information: If you receive a call from a contact tracer, they may advise you to stay at home for 14 days or less, depending on your unique situation.

This video was provided by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). If you prefer to watch the video with English voiceover and captions, please watch the video with audio instead.

Descriptive transcript

[A man with dark mustache and short beard, wearing a dark shirt, stands in front of a black background on the right side of the screen. The left side of the screen is occupied by a slideshow, with slides changing during the video. Slide: A blank dialogue bubble on top of a purple background. Text appears on the bubble: “Contact tracing”. Light colored question marks appear around the bubble. The man signs during the whole video.]

>> ASL Talent: You may have heard that contact tracing is one way to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But what is contact tracing?

[New slide appears with a dark icon of a person on a white background. A magnifying glass slowly hovers over the person icon, turning the person red with dark dots around the head, suggesting COVID germs.]

>> ASL Talent: Contact tracing is finding people who may be infectious or contagious with COVID-19- and may not know it.

[The magnifying glass disappears and is replaced by an outline of a house around the ‘sick’ person.]

>> ASL Talent: Telling them to stay home and away from others so they don’t infect anyone else.

[New slide appears with an icon of a flip calendar inside a purple circle on top of a light background. Days on the calendar are represented by gray circles with the third date-circle in the Thursday column bolded in purple. The circles after this one slowly turn red with a number 1-14 in the next fourteen date-circles.]

>> ASL Talent: After someone has been exposed to COVID-19, they can start spreading it to other people anywhere from 2 to 14 days later.

[New slide appears with a dark person icon inside a pink circle. The pink circle is connected by lines to other circles, creating a network. Other person icons appear inside the other connected pink circles.]

>> ASL Talent: During this time, people may not feel sick but they could still pass COVID-19 on to others.

[The first person icon in the center turns red. Gray dots appear around the person’s head, suggesting COVID germs. The other person icons connected to the first one slowly turn red as well. The diagram zooms out, showing a network of pink circles with gray (uninfected) and red (infected) person icons; the network grows with more person icons connected to the first one.]

>> ASL Talent: This is how more and more people get infected. Contact tracing is one way to stop this cycle. This is how it works:

[New slide appears with a group of three blue vials on a light blue background. One of the test tubes turns red with a number 1 in a notification circle popping up next to it. The image zooms out to include an icon of a hospital building.]

>> ASL Talent: The Minnesota Department of Health is notified of every person who tests positive for COVID-19, just like with measles.

[New slide appears with a blue person icon turning red (infected). An icon of a smartphone appears next to it. Another person icon with a light colored headpiece appears on the other side of the smartphone. Text under the blue icon: “Case Interviewer (contact tracer)”.]

>> ASL Talent: If you test positive for COVID-19, you can expect a call from a COVID-19 case interviewer. Sometimes they are also called contact tracers. Case interviewers work for state, local, or tribal public health departments.

[Text on slide changes to “Case interviewers call to: give you information about COVID-19; ask about your health; answer your questions.”]

>> ASL Talent: Case interviewers call to give you information about COVID-19, ask you about your health, and answer your questions.

[New slide appears with an icon of an unlocked padlock next to text in white: “Tennessen Warning” on a blue background.]

>> ASL Talent: They will first read you something called a Tennessen warning. This is information about privacy and asks if you are okay with sharing your health information.

[Text on slide with padlock icon changes to “Your privacy”. Sparks appear around the lock, which clicks shut.]

>> ASL Talent: Your information cannot be shared with anyone without your permission.

[New slide appears. Two dark person icons slide in side by side on a white background.]

>> ASL Talent: They also ask about who you had close contact with starting a few days before you tested positive.

[An icon of a clock appears between the two person icons.]

>> ASL Talent: In general, anyone that has spent more than 15 minutes within a close distance with someone who has COVID-19 is called a contact.

[15 minutes on the clock is shaded in light blue, and turns red.]

>> ASL Talent: The case interviewer will help you figure out who is considered a contact.

[The slide goes back to the slide with two person icons separated by a smartphone in the middle. The person on the right has a headpiece and blue dots appear from the person to the phone, and towards the person on the left. The icons drift up as an icon of a clipboard with a checklist on it appears on bottom with a light purple background.]

>> ASL Talent: Case interviewers can then call your contacts and talk with them about getting tested.

[Lines of text on the checklist are blacked out one by one.]

>> ASL Talent: They will not share your name or any other personal information with your contacts without your permission.

[The clipboard slides down and out of view and is replaced by a calendar icon with 14 days marked in dark circles. A plus sign icon appears to the right, and a person icon inside an outline of a house to the far right.]

>> ASL Talent: They tell them to stay home for 14 days, counting from their last close contact with you. If they stay home, their germs stay home too. Contact tracing only works with your help.

[New slide appears with an icon of a smartphone on a light blue background. The icon of a phone on the smartphone screen wiggles to suggest ringing. The phone icon changes to an icon for voicemail represented by two white circles connected by a bottom line inside a dark circle. A small green notification circle appears on top of the bigger circle with a number 1 inside.]

>> ASL Talent: If a case interviewer calls you, be sure to answer your phone. If you miss their call, they will leave a message. Be sure to call them back.

[New slide appears with a green checkmark on the top of the screen with text slowly appearing underneath it: “Who they are; who they work for; and that they are calling about COVI-19.”]

>> ASL Talent: Case interviewers always tell you who they are, who they work for, and that they are calling about COVID-19.

[The check mark and text fades out and slides right to make room for a new list under a red X. Text slowly appears under the red X: “Immigration status; money; your bank, credit car, or Social Security number.”]

>> ASL Talent: They never ask about your immigration status, for money, or for your bank, credit card, social security numbers.

[New slide appears with a white dialogue bubble on a purple background. Text appears inside the bubble: “¿Hablas español?”]

>> ASL Talent: If you prefer not to speak in English, let the case interviewer know. They will get a different interviewer who speaks your language or use a phone interpreter.

[New slide appears. A person icon with a headpiece is on the left, with three circles grouped on the right. The top circle contains an icon of a family with two adults and a child with a blue background. The middle circle contains a crossed spoon and fork on a plate with a green background. The bottom circle contains an icon of pill capsules on a light purple background.]

>> ASL Talent: Interviewers also share information with you – things like how to protect the people you live with, and how to get food, medicine, and other things you may need to stay safe at home.

[New slide appears. A person icon with a headpiece is on the left, with a dotted line arcing to a network of person icons connected by purple lines and circles, with a red person icon in the middle of the network. Outlines of house icons appear around the red icon, as persons connected to the center person slowly turn red with house icons around them.]

>> ASL Talent: Together, with help of contact tracing and case interviewers, we can slow the spread of COVID- 19.

[A logo appears on screen: “Stay Safe MN”. Text underneath: “health.mn.gov”.]

>> ASL Talent: Thank you for doing your part.

Additional information

Additional videos can be found on MDH's YouTube account.