Community Trace: Rapid Establishment of a Volunteer Contact Tracing Program for COVID-19

• DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2020.305959
• Publication Date: 2020-11-19T21:03:41Z
• Authors: Linda Niccolai; Tyler Shelby; Brian Weeks; Christopher Schenck; Justin Goodwin; Rachel Hennein; Meghan Rossini; Jennifer Vazquez; Dorothyann van Rhijn; James Meek; Maritza Bond
• Keywords: Contact tracing; Tracing; Pandemic; TRACE (psycholinguistics); 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak; Haven

Contact tracing was one of the core public health strategies implemented during first months COVID-19 pandemic. In this essay, we describe rapid establishment a volunteer contact program in New Haven, Connecticut. We successes and challenges that were faced. Going forward, efforts can best be supported by increased funding to state local departments for stable workforce use evidence-based technological innovations.