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Contact tracer Toni Parlanti of Stamford, Conn., calls a person identified as having been potentially exposed to the coronavirus this week. States and territories report they have more than 70,000 people working on contact tracing as of December. (John Moore/Getty Images)
It’s an incredibly difficult time to be a contact tracer in the United States. Just imagine having to call up a stranger a few days before Christmas to tell them they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 and need to quarantine for 14 days.
For public health workers tasked with making contact tracing calls, “these are very challenging conversations at any time, but the longer the pandemic continues, especially around the holidays, it’s difficult to ask folks to quarantine,” says Lindsey Mauldin, who oversees Pennsylvania’s contact tracing program.
John Moore / Getty Images
Originally published on December 23, 2020 5:57 pm
It s an incredibly difficult time to be a contact tracer in the United States. Just imagine having to call up a stranger a few days before Christmas to tell them they ve been exposed to COVID-19 and need to quarantine for 14 days.
For public health workers tasked with making contact tracing calls, these are very challenging conversations at any time, but the longer the pandemic continues, especially around the holidays, it s difficult to ask folks to quarantine, says Lindsey Mauldin, who oversees Pennsylvania s contact tracing program.
But those contact tracing calls must go on. In fact, according to NPR s most recent survey, contract tracing programs in many states have grown as agencies push to keep up with mushrooming case numbers.
John Moore/Getty Images
It s an incredibly difficult time to be a contact tracer in the U.S. Just imagine having to call up a stranger a few days before Christmas to tell them they ve been exposed to COVID-19 and need to quarantine for 14 days.
For public health workers tasked with making contact tracing calls, these are very challenging conversations at any time, but the longer the pandemic continues, especially around the holidays, it s difficult to ask folks to quarantine, says Lindsey Mauldin, who oversees Pennsylvania s contact tracing program.
But those contact tracing calls must go on. In fact, according to NPR s most recent survey, contract tracing programs in many states have grown, as agencies push to keep up with mushrooming case numbers.
John Moore/Getty Images
toggle caption John Moore/Getty Images
Contact tracer Toni Parlanti of Stamford, Conn., calls a person identified as having been potentially exposed to the coronavirus this week. States and territories report they have more than 70,000 people working on contact tracing as of December. John Moore/Getty Images
It s an incredibly difficult time to be a contact tracer in the United States. Just imagine having to call up a stranger a few days before Christmas to tell them they ve been exposed to COVID-19 and need to quarantine for 14 days.
For public health workers tasked with making contact tracing calls, these are very challenging conversations at any time, but the longer the pandemic continues, especially around the holidays, it s difficult to ask folks to quarantine, says Lindsey Mauldin, who oversees Pennsylvania s contact tracing program.