The State of New Jersey will be hiring 1,000 contract tracers who will work to find those who have come in contact with COVID-19 patients.
Contract tracing has been done by county health departments for decades as a way to prevent the spread of highly communicable diseases. It was used during the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and the SARS epidemic in 2003, and can be helpful in notifying those exposed to tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases, such as the virus that causes AIDS.
According to the CDC, to be effective, contact tracing requires specialized training, supervision, and access to social and medical support for patients and contacts who were within 6 feet of someone infected with COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes as early as 48 hours before the onset of the disease. It is part of a multi-pronged approach to eliminating the spread of the disease.
We're planning to develop a community contact tracing corps, Heath Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Tuesday. First, we will partner with the state's higher education institutions. Then we will expand our efforts to include all universities throughout the state. We will then estimate the demand for contact tracer capacity that could reach into the thousands, and we are announcing a request for quotes to solicit proposals from vendors, organizations and institutions to help us increase the corps across the state. Our goal is to recruit culturally competent and multilingual individuals from communities across the state. The combination of expanded testing and contact tracing will increase our ability to quickly identify new cases and take immediate public health measures to interrupt the transmission of the virus.
The state has set up a website where those interested in being contact tracers can be notified when opportunities become available. Free training will be provided.
According to the state website, contact tracing is a full-time commitment given the training requirement and access to various necessary systems.
Contact tracers will be scheduled to work 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days per week, not to exceed 35 hours a week.
To learn more about contact tracing and to learn about the free online training program, see https://covid19.nj.gov/forms/tracer
