Text CONTAINCOVID to 50409 to request that your Texas legislators and Governor prioritize testing, tracing, and mask usage.

Any missing/incorrect data? Please email us. TestAndTrace is the leading contact tracing research org in the U.S. and has been featured by the U.S. CDC and our data is used by CovidActNow.

TESTING & CONTACT TRACING STATS:

Texas scores 0/6 on our grading of how prepared a state is to test and trace today.

0.1387431479/1 of tests are positive (the target rate is <.03, aka <3%).

Texas has 0.4614717363 total contact tracers per daily positive test (target rate is >5)

Texas has hired 3192 contact tracers, plans to hire a total of 4000 contact tracers, and based on our modeling it needs to hire at least 34585 contact tracers.

You can view the stats for all states here.

GRADING METHODOLOGY:

The grading scale is based upon the knowledge that:
1. Countries with successful test and trace programs have less than 3% positive tests (meaning that they have enough testing capabilities to test aggressively)
2. A state needs ~5-15 contact tracers per daily positive test (contact tracers interview infected patients about who they’ve had close contact with, and then call those people to help them get tested and quarantined).

Overall Grading Scale: Conducted on a 6 point scale with a 6/6 meaning that a state meets the necessary testing availability and tracing team size benchmarks to successfully test and trace.

Testing Grades:
3 points for under 3% positive tests
2 point for 3-5.5% positive tests
1 point for 5.5-8% positive tests
0 points if over 8% positive tests

Tracing Grades:
3 points for 5-15+ tracers per daily positive case
2 points for 2.5-5 tracers per daily positive case
1 point for 1-2.5 tracers per daily positive case
0 points for under 1 tracer per daily positive case

Data sources:

1. Our own outreach and direct contact with state health departments.
2. NPR’s contact tracing tracking initiative
3. Covid Tracking Project