New York State and Bloomberg Philanthropies are working together on a contact tracing initiative to control the infection rate of COVID-19.
Bloomberg Philanthropies, founded by Mike Bloomberg, has committed $10.5 million, along with organizational support and technical assistance, to build out the program. Specifically, the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University will build an online curriculum and training program for contact tracers.
The New York State Department of Health and Bloomberg Philanthropies will identify and recruit contact tracer candidates for the training program. Then, an expert panel will be established to review the work and create a model that other states can use for contact tracing.
“The numbers indicate we are past the apex of this pandemic, and while we start our work to re-open our economy we must ensure we are doing it in a way that does no harm and does not undo all of the work and sacrifice it has taken to get here,” New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “One of the most critical pieces of getting to a new normal is to ramp up testing, but states have a second big task – to put together an army of people to trace each person who tested positive, find out who they contacted and then isolate those people. This partnership with Mike Bloomberg to create an unprecedented, nation-leading contact tracing program will do just that and serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”
There has never been a contact tracing program implemented at this scale either in New York or anywhere in the United States.
“We’re all eager to begin loosening restrictions on our daily lives and our economy. But in order to do that as safely as possible, we first have to put in place systems to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus and support them as they isolate,” Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP, said. “I’m honored to partner with Governor Cuomo and New York State to help do that, by creating a new contact tracing program on a widespread scale. Coupled with far more testing, it will help us drive the virus into a corner — saving lives and allowing more people to begin getting back to work.”
Contact tracing helps prevent the spread of a virus by using testing to confirm if someone has COVID-19. This is done by interviewing that person to identify people they may have been in contact with during their illness and during the few days before symptoms began, reaching out to their contacts to alert them to their risk of infection. Then, those contacts would be referred to medical providers and asked to stay home for 14 days to be sure they don’t spread COVID-19 to others.
Several countries, such as Germany, Singapore, and South Korea, have used contact tracing effectively in the COVID-19 outbreak. Those countries have been able to re-open quicker and experienced fewer deaths and infections.