Iowa's contact tracing wanes as COVID-19 surges

More Iowa counties are deciding to call it quits with COVID-19 contact tracing efforts.

Driving the news: In the past two weeks, both Johnson and Linn counties have ended their contract tracing programs.

Why it matters: Tracing can help slow the spread of the disease by alerting more people of potential exposures.

• But many health departments across the country are struggling to manage, as resources and staffing remain low.

What they're saying: The rapid increase in COVID-19 transmission makes tracing "less effective," Sam Jarvis, of Johnson County Public Health, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Zoom in: Polk County's Health Department has limited COVID-19 contact tracing to schools or cases involving children, spokesperson Nola Aigner Davis told Axios.

• Polk had already ceded larger community tracing efforts to the Iowa Public Health Department, which ended its investigations in August.

Of note: There are no immediate plans to end contact tracing in Polk schools, Aigner Davis said.

• Des Moines Public Schools' tracker shows that daily case counts have increased dramatically since Jan. 3, with more than 100 districtwide yesterday.