Toronto Public Health launches new data system to enhance coronavirus tracing

Toronto Public Health launched what it believes will be a new technological solution to enhance case and contact tracing work to improve the city’s COVID-19 response by slowing the spread of the virus.

Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa confirmed that coronavirus cases are continuing to increase in the city.

On Thursday, de Villa said there are 2,882 total cases in the city, with 230 are now hospitalized and 88 are in ICU.

So far, 147 patients have died — an increase of 26 cases from Wednesday’s report.

Because of the rising numbers, faster case and contact follow-up is needed, prompting Toronto Public Health to create an improved data system to better respond to cases.

The new system, CORES, will allow the public health unit to quickly document each individual case investigation efficiently and share data with the provincial Ministry of Health.

Toronto Public Health will be able to adequately keep up with the volume of new reports and prioritize individual cases that require urgent follow-up such as healthcare workers.

Importantly, this system also allows more frontline public health staff to work remotely from home.

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“I’m pleased to launch this new CORES information system to enhance our critical case and contact tracing work and during our local COVID-19 response. It will allow us to keep up with the increasing volume of work as our local situation continues to evolve. This new system will also enable my team to provide more detailed data to the public,” de Villa said.

To compare, previously, Toronto Public Health was inputting case and contact tracing data into the provincial integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) that all local public health departments are required to use to report infectious disease information.

“While this system usually works, it is not equipped to deal with a health emergency of this magnitude and the scale and speed of data entry required to provide up-to-date data,” the city said.

De Villa noted that case and contact tracing information provides insight into how coronavirus spreads from one person to another, the extent of community spread, and how long the virus can incubate.

It also provides information on the overall impacts on an individual’s health and what city agencies can to do further protect residents.