Governor Abbott Wants To Recruit An Army Of 4000 Coronavirus-Trackers

Kurian said a simple interview with each patient can take 30 to 45 minutes, but can be longer depending on the amount of information there is to share. Most often, tracers learn the exposed individuals are through close-contact, family members, or work colleagues. “It spreads through respiratory droplets that can land in the eyes, nose, mouth of somebody who’s standing within six feet for a long time,” Kurian said. “So, if it’s a casual contact, your risk of contracting this infection is pretty minimal.”

However, cases do occur where the tracers have to extend the search outside of close contacts. “Just passing somebody in a store, it doesn’t pose a high risk. But if somebody had said, ‘I spent a considerable amount in CVS standing in a line with a bunch of people coughing and sneezing,’ then that is something that we will certainly follow up,” Kurian said.

It can be an exhaustive process, and while some countries have implemented digital tools to help with tracking, Kurian said U.S. public health officials rely on people to make the phone calls. “Data is collected on a paper form, and that’s just that’s the way collected across public health departments. And, all this data is then inputted it into an electronic database.” -Full Report

The tracers are essentially investigators who work to determine the ripple effects of any given positive diagnosis.