Skip to main content

Table 3 Time from laboratory confirmation to first visit for the 16 confirmed cases, plus two secret burials

From: Use of a mobile application for Ebola contact tracing and monitoring in northern Sierra Leone: a proof-of-concept study

Case

Chiefdom

Contacts registered (N)

Contacts visited (N)

Date/time of case confirmation

Case confirmation to registration (hours)

Case registration to contact assignment (median hours)

Contact assignment to first visit (median hours)

Case confirmation to first visit (median hours)

Case-specific delaying factors and comments

Total

 

556

384

 

18.0

23.4

22.8

70.2

 

1

1

19

19

06/06/2015 19:23

19.99

29.73

22.77

72.56

● Remote location of contacts

● Limited network coverage

● Network coverage and syncing problems

● Battery charging issues

2

1

9

9

06/06/2015 22:18

43.89

3.16

23.12

70.16

3

1

9

9

07/06/2015 06:27

9.25

3.58

49.07

61.89

4

1

11

11

09/06/2015 23:10

16.52

1.68

21.77

39.94

5

2

24

24

13/06/2015 15:20

27.13

46.17

26.69

99.74

● Remote Chiefdom

● Several cases occurring in close proximity and time to each other

● Technical difficulties assigning contactsa

● Far from place where phones could be charged

6

2

14

14

17/06/2015 15:13

2.61

13.14

108.75

124.47

7

2/3

36

34

18/06/2015 15:58

42.75

4.53

22.47

67.05

8

2

6

6

24/06/2015 17:10

3.55

11.36

3.83

18.73

9

4

24

15

29/06/2015 21:06

16.05

70.28

1.39

87.72

● Technical difficulties assigning contactsa

● Transport difficulties for CTs led to CTC monitoring with paper formb

10

4

120

98

16/06/2015 22:54

11.43

81.05

128.26

251.97

11

5

52

52

12/07/2015 14:26

19.57

2.88

5.35

27.81

● Long contact lists

● Contacts added after initial entry and assignment

● Long CT travel distances

● Management error in CT assignmentc

● WHO intervention including CTCs and CTs having to monitor additional non-quarantined households d

● Monitoring issues for CTs e

● Syncing and network connectivity difficulties

● Technical problemsf

● Misplaced phones

Battery charging issues

12

5

23

23

14/07/2015 11:10

21.96

29.25

18.13

69.31

13

5

5

5

17/07/2015 15:01

30.95

23.43

11.7

66.08

14

6

112

51

25/06/2015 21:11

14.28

26.83

122.75

163.56

● CTC user error in assignment requiring retraining and support

● System errors with monitoring features. (Rectified for later cases)

15

6

92

14

02/07/2015 17:21

16.08

76.95

275

296.54

16

5

0

0

18/06/2015 21:26

59.51

   

● No contacts registered

Secret burial 1

1

24

24

  

3.21

89.37

 

● Syncing delays or network problems

● Late reassignment of contacts

Secret burial 2

6

66

0

  

59.32

  

● Inaccessible due to flooding

  1. Footnotes
  2. a This included difficulties in basic app functions including switching on mobile data to use the app, syncing difficulties to receive and send contacts
  3. b CTs experienced difficulties traveling to monitor contacts so the CTC monitored the contacts, but as the app on the CTC phone was for assignment and not monitoring, the CTC used the paper form for monitoring
  4. c CTCs often incorrectly assigned to a named Chiefdom level feature which showed on the page of named CTs to assign to. This was a technical feature of the app that could not be hidden which meant that the contact was not monitored by the correct CT
  5. d Extra responsibilities were placed on CTs in this Chiefdom to also conduct monitoring of non-quarantined homes due to a spike in cases in this Chiefdom. This was on the advice of WHO
  6. e This included transportation issues of CTs to monitor contacts, syncing issues, network connectivity difficulties and technical problems, misplaced phones, battery charging issues that were specific to this Chiefdom when there were cases
  7. f Technical problems related to the study phones included syncing issues to receive and send information to the CommCare server, software error messages, and corrupt SD card problems that caused the app to not work
Back to article page

BMC Infectious Diseases

ISSN: 1471-2334

Contact us