FAQ: What is contact tracing and how does it work?
Catherine Hopkins, director of community outreach and school health at St. Joseph's Hospital in Yonkers, handles test samples in a COVID-19 triage and testing tent at the hospital in April. Credit: AP/John Minchillo
It’s called contact tracing, and it’s one of the most crucial steps to figuring out where the spread of COVID-19 infection came from — and whom it might attack next, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In New York State, as many as 17,000 tracers are expected to be enlisted. For all the latest information, check out the state’s website: coronavirus.health.ny.gov/new-york-state-contact-tracing.
Contact tracing is a new term to most of us. But the CDC notes contact tracing has been “a core disease control measure employed by local and state health department personnel for decades,” and calls it “a key strategy” now in the fight against COVID-19.
So, what exactly is it and how does it work? And just what can it do to help contain the spread of the coronavirus?
What is contact tracing?
What is contact tracing?
A process where public health care workers work with a patient to help them recall — that is, trace the history of — everyone with whom they've had close contact during the time frame when they may have been [or became] infectious with a disease. The aim is to contain COVID-19 and keep the disease from spreading further.
Tracers are trained to collect information about the spread of the disease. This data is placed in state-of-the-art software and allows experts to follow the spread of infection. Health officials will place an emphasis on areas with the greatest level of infection and on regions ready to reopen under the state guidelines.
How does contact tracing work?
How does contact tracing work?
Once a timeline is established, health care workers notify all of those who’ve been in close contact with the infected person to let them know they may have been exposed. In order to protect personal privacy, the identity of the infected person is not disclosed. State officials say all personal information will be kept strictly confidential and protected as a medical record.
What happens next?
What happens next?
All of those who’ve had known contact with the infected person are then provided with “education, information, and support to understand their risk,” the CDC said, and are advised on “what they should do to separate themselves from others who are not exposed, monitor themselves for illness, and the possibility that they could spread the infection to others even if they themselves do not feel ill.”
A smartphone shows notes Drew Grande, 40, of Cranston, Rhode Island, made for contact tracing last month. Grande began keeping a log at the beginning of April, after Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo urged residents to do so out of concern about the spread of the coronavirus. Credit: AP/Steven Senne
According to state officials, contact tracers will contact you if they learn that you’ve been in contact with an infected person. Officials ask that if you get a call on your phone from “NYS Contact Tracing” (518-387-9993), please answer it and cooperate as much as possible in the tracer’s attempt to keep the community safe.
What’s the benefit of knowing?
What’s the benefit of knowing?
It can help prevent the further spread of infection if those already exposed to the virus avoid future contact with those who haven't been exposed to it.
“Contacts are encouraged to stay home and maintain social distance from others (at least 6 feet) until 14 days after their last exposure,” the CDC said on its website guide to contact tracing. “They should monitor themselves by checking their temperature twice daily and watching for cough or shortness of breath.”
Contacts who develop symptoms should isolate themselves — and notify the public health care system, the CDC said. “They should be promptly evaluated for infection and for the need for medical care.”
In New York State, if you test positive, state officials say a COVID Contact Tracer will help with support and resources you may need through quarantine, such as “getting groceries or household supplies, child care, medical care or supplies."
What’s the ultimate goal of contact tracing?
What’s the ultimate goal of contact tracing?
It's simple: to flatten the curve. Knowing you’ve had contact with someone who’s tested positive means you can take precautions to help prevent infecting someone else. It’s not rocket science, but really just basic good medical practice — and good citizenship.
How can you be hired as a contact tracer?
How can you be hired as a contact tracer?
The CDC offers online guidelines for “community healthcare workers and volunteers with little or no experience” in conducting contact tracing in order to educate them on the procedural intricacies. A guide can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/php/contact-tracing-training-plan.pdf.
In April, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that New York’s contact tracing program would work with former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Vital Strategies (another Bloomberg-affiliated group), with the goal of establishing between 6,400 and 17,000 contact tracing jobs statewide to deal with COVID-19. That program is now underway in both Nassau and Suffolk counties, local officials say.
The baseline is 30 contact tracers per 100,000 individuals, according to the governor’s office. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will develop “an online exam that must be passed to complete the program,” according to the governor's office website.
A high school diploma or equivalent is required, as is the need to be a state resident and the ability to speak, read and write English — though fluency in a second language “would be a plus.”
Employment is contingent upon passing the exam, as well as completion of a state background check. A telephone, computer, wireless internet connection and electronic equipment all are required. A personal mobile device also is required.
In New York City, the listed salary is $57,000. Initially, applications were available at fphnyc.org/about/careers. But now the city’s program is now being managed by NYC Health + Hospitals. To apply, visit bachrachgroup.com/covid-19-jobs/.
In Nassau and Suffolk, officials say they are redeploying and training many existing government workers to serve as tracers, but some tracers are expected to be hired from the outside. For more information, contact the local department of health at 516-227-9697 or 631-854-0000.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
