A bill was introduced in Congress last week that would establish a federal contact tracing workforce.
The Coronavirus Containment Corps Act would fill a need for more contact tracing to combat the COVID-19 virus and its variants. It would help by providing federal funding for this workforce while also providing guidance for workforce agencies in hiring and managing teams of contact tracers. The bill’s sponsors are also calling for the legislation to be included in the upcoming COVID-19 response package from Congress.
“This deadly virus has killed more than 400,000 Americans and cost millions more their jobs and livelihoods. We need to do all that we can to contain this virus, while also creating jobs that can be done safely,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “That’s why hiring more Americans to close the critical shortage of contact tracers is a commonsense win-win that must be included in the next coronavirus relief package.”
It was also sponsored by fellow Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Tina Smith (D-MN), along with Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI).
The is legislation follows multiple efforts by Merkley and his Democratic colleagues to boost contact tracing efforts in 2020. That included an effort to increase contact tracing capacity in the relief legislation that passed in December.
Contact tracers are more important than ever to the efforts to fully understand, and prevent, new variants of the Coronavirus. They will also be positioned to provide vaccine outreach support as more become available. Approximately 50,000 public health jobs—including contact tracing posts—have been lost since the Great Recession. This is because many public health departments are severely underfunded.