Thank you for your ongoing partnership as we work together to keep our children learning in the classroom. As the pandemic evolves, NC Department of Health and Human Services is committed to providing the most effective and appropriate public health guidance for the current phase of the pandemic. The best tools right now are: getting vaccinated, getting boosted when eligible, wearing a well-fitting mask, testing after exposure, and staying home when sick.  

Contact tracing has been an important public health tool used to slow the spread of COVID at earlier points in the pandemic and remains important in certain high-risk congregate settings such as long-term care facilities, correctional facilities, and homeless shelters. At this phase in the pandemic, individual contact tracing in other settings and in the community is a less effective tool, due to several factors that include: