The Development of a Tracking Model for Monitoring People who have Traveled to Trang Province from Coronavirus Disease 2019 Risk Areas

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on health systems worldwide. This action research was aimed at developing a tracking model for monitoring individuals who have traveled to Trang province, Thailand from COVID-19 risk areas. Participants were 146 stakeholders consisting of 46 provincial-chief officers, district-chief officers, public health officers, local governors, community leaders, village committees, and village health volunteers and 100 people who had traveled to Trang from high-risk COVID-19 areas. Research instruments were the reports of the number of travelers arriving from the risk areas, the satisfaction questionnaire, and the focus group interview guidelines. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks tests, and content analysis.  Research findings showed that the Trang Healthy Passport was developed to track individuals who had traveled from COVID-19 risk areas to Trang province. It was used for registration of travelers, screening risk groups, and delivering information to community disease control units. After implementing the application, we found that the number of cases monitored through the Trang Healthy Passport was significantly higher than number of monitored cases using the Thai Quarantine Monitor program, (Z = 2.80, p < .05). The advantages of this application were that it offers a one-stop-service experience, reduces the number of staff and procedures required, and provides real-time information services. The critical success factors were the awareness and cooperation of stakeholders, community empowerment, and public awareness building, which allowed people to receive accurate information.