Contact Tracing SMS policy

About your privacy

The confidentiality of your private information is protected by Louisiana’s law. It will only be used to help the Louisiana Department of Health - Office of Public Health (LDH-OPH) respond to and prevent cases of an infectious disease. We will not release your name to anyone with whom you’ve been in contact.

Contact Tracing SMS policy

The LDH Contact Tracing’s use of SMS in all forms, including with Short Codes

Acting on behalf of the Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public Health (“OPH”), the Contact Tracing program uses Short Message Service (“SMS”) text messaging via cellphone for multiple purposes related to the dissemination of public health information about COVID-19, including reaching out to individuals recently diagnosed with the virus and their close contacts. In some instances the LDH Contact Tracing will use “short codes” for SMS, short five to six digit codes that may appear on the cellphones of recipients of the LDH Contact Tracing’s COVID-19 SMS messages instead of the longer 9 to 10 digit phone numbers.

Message and data rates may apply. You may receive up to 4 messages per day. For help, reply HELP. To opt out, reply STOP. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Using SMS, the LDH Contact Tracing provides COVID-19 positive individuals, their contacts, and travelers to the State of Louisiana with advice and support regarding infection, isolation and quarantine, how to protect their own health and that of others, and assistance in meeting basic needs for food, shelter and medical assistance while quarantined.  

The LDH Contact Tracing program also collects personal information from such individuals when they in turn use SMS to provide information to the LDH Contact Tracing program about, among other things, their COVID-19 symptoms, health, isolation and quarantine plans.

All personal information collected by the LDH Contact Tracing program is protected in accordance with the State of Louisiana’s Personal Information Protection Laws, including R.S. 51:3074, using an array of administrative, technical and physical security measures. Information collected by LDH through the LDH Contact Tracing program via SMS may be shared as provided for by state and federal law, including local health departments and contractors for purposes of facilitating contact tracing and the support of COVID-positive individuals and their close contacts.