New York – New York will soon launch a program to train employees to track the virus by observing people who have come into contact with someone who has been infected.
The initiative, considered key to avoiding a rebound in COVID-19, will cover thousands of people who have so far received no training on public health issues.
Because the training cannot be done physically in one place due to the prohibition of gathering large numbers of people, it will be online, through a course of about five or six hours, starting on Monday.
RELATED
“There is a lot of talk about how technology is helping against the coronavirus, but in reality, this work is based on human activity,” said Josh Sharfstein of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who developed the project together with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the philanthropic foundation of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
When a new coronavirus case arises, team members will find out who that person had contact with, call them, and direct them to quarantine until the possibility of illness is ruled out.
In the training video, team members are taught how to interview people, whether by phone or the Internet.
Sharfstein indicated that the training, available on the Coursera website, will be available to everyone, not just those who volunteer, organizers said.
Bloomberg has donated $ 10.5 million to make the plan possible.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has set a goal of hiring at least 30 virus trackers for every 100,000 residents.
