Contact tracing is a kind of disease detective work. Tracers track down anyone who might’ve been infected by a person who was recently diagnosed with coronavirus so those contacts can quarantine themselves and prevent further spread.
It’s an involved process, but public health experts say the US can’t safely reopen without it. A study from the Bloomberg School’s Center for Health Security estimated the US will need at least 100,000 contact tracers to stymy Covid-19 before reopening.
The five-hour course covers the tracing basics: How to interview people who’ve been diagnosed, identify their close contacts and support them during quarantine, to name a few. Students will mock-interview, consult with Johns Hopkins faculty and simulate ethical dilemmas on the job, the university said in a statement.
The course is required for New York contact tracers
States are scrambling to hire enough contact tracers to handle a potential spike in cases after states reopen.
New York tracing hopefuls are required to take the Johns Hopkins course, which was created in conjunction with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the umbrella organization for Bloomberg’s charitable giving.