John Minchillo/AP toggle caption John Minchillo/AP Maryama Diaw, a contact tracer in New York City, worked remotely from her home last year. Coronavirus contact tracing programs across the U.S. are starting to scale back, according to the latest survey from NPR. John Minchillo/AP Here's one (more) sign the COVID-19 pandemic is on the decline in the U.S. NPR's latest survey of state health departments with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security finds many are winding down the contact tracing programs they scrambled to grow last year. More than half of the 36 health departments that responded to the survey in late May, had fewer tracers than in December, and the vast majority aren't planning to hire more.