This is unacceptable. The role of public health services is to save lives, not to be bean counters. The additional 600,000 to 900,000 Americans who are already HIV-infected will eventually meet the same fate. The HIV cure rate locks in at zero, and the miracle AIDS vaccine has yet to arrive. Doctors are never handed lists by their HIV-infected patients of contacts who need to be notified, nor are they trained in the delicate task of partner notification.
Contact tracing requires the skills of well-trained public health officials.
Public health services have an outstanding record of confidentiality. The time-honored rule of public health is to not disclose persons' names. When contact tracing is done, the source case is never mentioned, whether relating to HIV or any other disease. When the name of someone who is HIV-infected is publicly disclosed, it is invariably by the patient, their friends, or family, and not by public health officials. Once health authorities are given a name, partner notification must start promptly.