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    Coronavirus Cases Are Surging. The Contact Tracing Workforce Is Not

    NPR surveyed all 50 states about their contact tracing work. The workforce has barely grown since mid-June, while cases have skyrocketed.
    by Selena Simmons-Duffin Aug 07, 2020 5 minutes

    The United States needs as many as 100,000 contact tracers to fight the pandemic, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Congress in June. We need billions of dollars to fund them, public health leaders pleaded in April.

    But in August, with coronavirus cases increasing in more than half of states, America has neither the staff nor the resources to be able to trace the contacts of every new case — a key step in the COVID-19 public health response.

    Contact tracers call each person who's just tested positive and track down their contacts to inform them of their risk so they can quarantine. They also often connect people with services in order to safely isolate. It takes manpower, time, and organization, but it's proven effective in controlling infectious diseases.

    Despite some enthusiasm about contact tracing early in, finds the national workforce has barely grown since mid June.a total contact tracing workforce of 37,110.

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