Covid-19 contact tracing in Pacific NW buckling under surging cases Since early in the pandemic, rapid contact tracing has been considered one of the keys to controlling the spread of the coronavirus. But in recent weeks, an overwhelming surge in new cases has let thousands of COVID-positive people and their close contacts fall through the cracks. Contact tracers play an important role in breaking the chain of virus transmission because they call friends and associates of a newly diagnosed person and tell them to self-quarantine before those people expose anyone else. Case investigations also give public health authorities a better understanding of where people are being exposed.