contact tracing

Memorial Day weekend at Robert Moses State Park on Fire Island, N.Y. As the pandemic continues, Harvard's Dr. Ashish Jha says, mask wearing, social distancing and robust strategies of testing and contact tracing will be even more important.

Nearing 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths, U.S. Is Still 'Early In This Outbreak'

5:15pm May 26, 2020

by Laurel Wamsley

"The speed with which this has happened is really devastating," says Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. He warns the outbreak will leave no part of the U.S. untouched.

Left: Jana De Brauwere, program manager at the San Francisco Public Library is now contact tracing through the State of California. Right: Rachel Saykpah, quality assurance officer for Last Mile Health in Liberia has overseen contact tracers in Africa sin

6 Pieces Of Advice From A Veteran Contact Tracer And A Newbie

9:49am May 25, 2020

by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

Get friendly with community leaders; be prepared to be judged by others. Disease detectives from California and Liberia share their best insights.

Health & Safety

COVID-19 Contact Tracing On The Rise In Forsyth County

4:05pm May 21, 2020

by David Ford

As Forsyth County begins the gradual reopening process, the numbers of COVID-19 cases have grown. So has the need for contact tracing.

Public health authorities say they hope smartphone apps can boost contact tracing efforts, but there are debates over how much data officials need to collect.

Health & Safety

Apple, Google Coronavirus Tool Won't Track Your Location. That Worries Some States

5:23pm May 13, 2020

by Shannon Bond

Apple and Google are developing smartphone technology to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. But public health authorities in some states are chafing against the tech giants' rules.

Queue Listen Now

Health care workers place a nasal swab from a patient into a tube for testing at the Brightpoint Health and UJA-Federation of New York pop-up coronavirus testing site on Friday in New York City.

Former Top Health Officials: Do More Testing And Contact Tracing Or Expect Outbreaks

4:40pm May 11, 2020

by James Doubek

Former federal health officials Andy Slavitt and Scott Gottlieb tell Morning Edition that more coronavirus testing and contact tracing are needed for U.S. businesses to reopen safely.

In Oregon Town, Volunteers Are Going Door-To-Door To Pin Down Coronavirus Infections

1:02pm May 11, 2020

by Joe Palca

In Corvallis, Ore, university volunteers are going into neighborhoods and offering residents a free self-test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in hopes of getting a more accurate snapshot of infections.

Health & Safety

VIDEO: What Is Contact Tracing And How Does It Stop The Pandemic?

7:01am May 10, 2020

Watch this video to learn more about contact tracing — which public health figures say is critical to halting the coronavirus pandemic.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the "Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps" this week. He said it would ideally be a broad program to train workers to test for COVID-19 and conduct contact tracing to monitor infection rates.

Civilian Coronavirus Corps Aims To Get Pennsylvania Back To Work

4:45pm May 08, 2020

by Katie Meyer

Gov. Tom Wolf hopes a New Deal-inspired plan will help get the state's more than 1.7 million unemployed residents working again.

Businesses need employees to feel safe returning to offices, but plans to track their movements are raising fears about greater workplace surveillance.

Health & Safety

Your Boss May Soon Track You At Work For Coronavirus Safety

3:04pm May 08, 2020

by Shannon Bond

Companies around the country are figuring out how to safely reopen office during the pandemic. The new normal might involve smartphone apps and badges to track employees.

Passengers board the Staten Island Ferry in April in New York, where health departments are trying to ramp up contact tracing efforts.

Wanted In New York: Thousands Of COVID-19 Contact Tracers

2:21pm May 08, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

Starting this month, health departments in New York are trying to hire thousands of workers to build up what could become one of the country's largest contact tracing programs for the coronavirus.