What do COVID-19 Contact Tracers Do?

Understanding Contact Tracing Jobs and Where to Find Them

Around the country, especially in areas with aggressive coronavirus response plans, public health departments are rolling out contact tracing programs. Contact tracing is a process used to track the path of contagious diseases, where people that are confirmed to have a disease (in this case, COVID-19) are interviewed by public health staff about everyone they may have been in contact with and when their symptoms began. From there, a map of the virus’s spread can be created. It could take hundreds of thousands of contact tracers to fully track coronavirus, so over the coming weeks there will likely be many jobs opening for tracers. People are keen to learn about job opportunities like tracing  during the COVID crisis, especially as unemployment continues to climb.  We created a post about available jobs for you, but we also caught up with a public health expert here in the Bay Area about what tracers do, the skills required  and how to learn about job opportunities to become a tracer.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing is Straightforward

Contact tracing sounds complex, but it’s actually a pretty basic process. Usually tracers will receive a report of a confirmed case electronically, along with basic info about the patient—sometimes just their date of birth and their contact information. Clinics and hospitals are required to report confirmed coronavirus cases to their local health departments, and tracers use that information to begin their process. “It’s pretty simple. It’s really just a lot of making phone calls,” said the expert we spoke to (who has asked to remain anonymous). Tracers call patients and ask them about when their symptoms began, how they are feeling, and most importantly everyone they have been in contact with as far back as several days before their symptoms appeared. They also ask about employment status and whether the patient is leaving their home to go to work. They usually issue a work exclusion for the patient to bring to their employer. Usually contact tracing is done at the health department, but cities may reconsider that during the crisis, since it can be done remotely.

The information given to contact tracers is completely confidential. If you become sick and a tracer calls you, anything you tell them will be kept “under lock and key” at the health department, our source explained. It’s just used to understand the scope of the virus’ spread and won’t be used against the patient in any way. Patients should be as honest as possible to get accurate data, which is why it’s important that contact tracers establish trust.

Can Anyone Be A Contact Tracer for COVID-19?

There are no advanced degrees or qualifications required to be a contact tracer. The expert we spoke to mentioned that speaking more than one language is particularly helpful, but that the most important skill is just cultural competency. Some patients may be distrustful of authorities because of their immigration status or other factors, and it is the tracer’s job to be calming and make sure the patient is at ease.

Where to Find Contact Tracing Jobs

Most cities are rolling out contact tracing programs by first utilizing existing public employees, even ones that do not usually work in public health, such as librarians. But as contact tracing expands as a strategy for controlling the virus, there are likely to be more hires. Our source recommends looking for contact tracing jobs posted in your area, because the city will likely want to invest its budget into creating local jobs. Contact tracing is an especially good role for anyone with medical experience, like nursing students, but anyone could do it.

Want to Learn about Contact Tracing Jobs?

Contact tracing is being implemented at different rates around the country, and postings vary.  We want to create a centralized hub for information on contract tracing, so we are compiling a database of job postings for tracers all over the U.S. You can get alerts of new postings by signing up at our website.

Good luck and stay safe!