Thanks to our pal Laura Runnels for letting us know about this new tool that will help health departments determine how many contact tracers they need.
A novel workforce tool created by researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) estimates that the nation will need a total of 184,000 COVID-19 contact tracers in order to help society safely reopen and limit the size of future waves of the virus. The tool will help state and local health departments determine the number of staff needed to effectively identify and trace people who have been in contact with new cases of COVID-19 and slow the spread of the virus.
“We know the virus that causes COVID-19 is highly contagious and spread by human contact,” said Edward Salsberg, MPA, a senior research scientist at the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity (Mullan Institute), which is based at Milken Institute SPH. “This new tool will help public health officials plan for the workforce needed to identify those most at risk and ease up on community-wide social distancing measures yet still keep the public safe.”
Using data on the number of COVID-19 cases, the estimated number of contacts per infected persons and other information, the team of researchers at the Mullan Institute have created the Contact Tracing Workforce Estimator. The tool was developed in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).
Using the new estimator, state and local public health officials will be able to plug in the number of COVID-19 cases and other data to help them gauge the number of staff needed to effectively trace contacts of all infected people in their jurisdiction. In addition, the estimator helps public health officials understand the factors, such as the need for social services, which can impact the number of contact tracers needed to slow the spread of infection.
Effectively stemming the viral spread requires that everyone in contact with a person who has tested positive is identified and contacted as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours. A contact tracer provides information, recommends testing if that person has symptoms, and advises these individuals to quarantine for up to two weeks.