Sara Alert’s open source code is available at https://github.com/SaraAlert. Sara Alert is a MITRE trademark. If you are interested in using the trademark in your work, please contact tto@mitre.org.
Media
Sara Alert™ in the News
As Contact Tracing Ramps Up In The DC Region, What Have We Learned So Far?
WAMU 88.5
Vogt says contact tracers enroll people in Sara Alert, a software system created by Mitre and in place in Virginia since late May. The software sends emails, texts or phone calls to patients to monitor their vital statistics. If people are not comfortable using Sara Alert, Vogt says contact tracers will arrange to call them daily to monitor symptoms. Monitoring lasts for 14 days from the last date of exposure, Vogt says.
CHCC: CDC health advisory on NMI is incorrect
Marianas Variety
In the CNMI, newly arrived travelers are enrolled in the Sara Alert System and undergo two Covid-19 tests — one upon arrival at the Saipan airport and the second on the fifth day after their arrival. Travelers must undergo quarantine until the result of their fifth day test comes back negative.
“If we stop this, we are putting ourselves at risk for more cases and that is why it is critical that we maintain this model or one that is better,” Muna said.
Clay County health officials see success with automated system to track COVID cases
KMBC Kansas City
The public health agency has started using the Sara Alert system to bring automation to disease investigation, symptom tracking and contact tracing for COVID-19.
“It’s a great system,” said Danielle Roethler, a community development specialist with the Health Department. “It was designed for public health for this purpose.”
The department started using the Sara Alert system three weeks ago. It joins both the Unified Government Public Health Department and Cass County Health Department in the Kansas City metro area using Sara Alert. The free, open-source tool for public health departments is designed by MITRE, a not-for-profit federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) based in both Massachusetts and Virginia.
Characteristics and Outcomes of Contacts of COVID-19 Patients Monitored Using an Automated Symptom Monitoring Tool — Maine, May–June 2020
CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Maine found that using automated symptom monitoring as a part of the state’s contact tracing program was well received, with the majority of monitored contacts (96.4%) agreeing to automated symptom monitoring. Automated symptom monitoring promptly identified COVID-19 diagnoses among monitored contacts.
Read full CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report article.
Contact Tracing Aided by Automated Monitoring
Infection Control Daily
Maine health officials did not have the resources to conduct contract tracing in the traditional manner, and Maine’s relatively sparse, and spread out population also presented obstacles. The technological answer to these problems is called Sara Alert, an automated, web-based symptom monitoring tool. Maine began enrolling contact patients in Sara Alert on May 14. “Maine found that using automated symptom monitoring as a part of the state’s contact tracing program was well received, with the majority of monitored contacts (96.4%) agreeing to automated symptom monitoring,” the study states.
Maine CDC works with MDI Hospital to assist in contact tracing for COVID-19 positive tourists
WABI
MDI Hospital will start using Maine CDC’s Sara Alert system to enroll close contacts of out-of-state confirmed cases.
MDI Hospital to begin contact tracing
The Ellsworth American
MDI Hospital will use the web-based Sara Alert tool to begin contacting those “close contacts” (anyone who has been within 6 feet of the person for 15 minutes or more) of these out-of-state cases, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Nirav Shah announced Tuesday.
Maine reports 15 new cases of COVID-19, one additional death
Press Herald
About 10 percent of Maine’s COVID-19 cases from May 14 through July 10 were identified using the automatic contact tracing system called Sara Alert.
MDI hospital starts pilot project to track coronavirus’ spread among out-of-state visitors
Bangor Daily News
Using Sara Alert, the hospital will be able to enroll the close contacts of those out-of-state people into a system that Maine already uses to trace contacts of its residents when they have confirmed infections, according to Shah. That will allow health officials to monitor the symptoms of those people — who would share them daily using text, email or other methods — so they can provide them with timely advice on testing and treatment as necessary
Bar Harbor hospital says at least 35 potential COVID-19 spreaders from other states have been in area
Press Herald
The hospital also wants the agency to register the infected individuals in the Sara Alert system, a tool used by Maine and several other states to allow COVID-19-positive individuals to report their symptoms and help medical providers contact trace among their own staff.