Contact Tracers

There is a severe shortage of contact tracers in the United States and in many other countries. This shortage was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis (which began in 2019) when there were not enough contact tracers to effectively track the spread of the virus. “In order to trace all contacts, safely isolate the sick, and quarantine those exposed, we estimate that our public health workforce needs to add approximately 100,000 (paid or volunteer) contact tracers to assist with this large-scale effort,” according to an April 2020 report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The report went on to say that “this workforce could be strategically deployed to areas of greatest need and managed through state and local public health agencies that are on the front lines of COVID-19 response.”