The free course, developed with Bloomberg Philanthropies, is available via Coursera to anyone in the world beginning May 11
A new Coursera class developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is now available to train contact tracers on the principles of the public health strategy many consider critical for slowing the spread of COVID-19.
(NOTE: Bio-Defense Network is creating a cadre of public health, nursing and allied health students to conduct contact tracing nationwide. Our team of contact tracers will be expected to have completed this or similar training classes before being assigned their first contact.)
The free six-hour course is open to anyone, but taking and passing it will be a requirement for thousands of contact tracers being hired by the state of New York to fight the pandemic. Within hours of its release Monday, more than 400 people had already registered for the class, according to Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at the Bloomberg School.
Click here to register.
A long-used public health strategy, contact tracing aims to break the chain of transmission of infectious diseases. The Coursera class, “COVID-19 Contact Tracing,” teaches the basics of interviewing people diagnosed with the virus, identifying their close contacts who might have been exposed, and providing them guidance for self-quarantine for two weeks.