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Contact Tracing Playbook
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Workforce expansion

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While contact tracing is routinely performed to control STDs, TB, and other communicable diseases, local health departments have limited front-line workforce (e.g., epidemiologists, disease intervention staff, public health nurses) to support contact tracing at the scale and pace of COVID-19. The CDC provides resources for training and supplementing existing staff for ongoing and surge support.

Population-based estimates

For contact tracing to be effective, every diagnosed case must be investigated, which means the contact tracing workforce must be capable of responding quickly even during surges. Find the number of staff you’ll need using this calculator provided by public health organization Resolve to Save Lives, and review additional estimates below.
Source of estimate
Estimated number of contact tracing staff per 100k population
Massachusetts/Partners in Health (initial staffing, which PIH believes will need to be increased subsequently)
14
Johns Hopkins/Association of State and Territorial Health Officers
30
Resolve to Save Lives
100

Roles needed

Role
Who can fill
Description
Contact tracers
  • Local lay people trained and supervised by disease intervention specialists
  • Volunteers from academic public health community
Communicate with contacts to gather data and inform about quarantine procedures.
May work remotely during shelter-in-place (e.g., one-on-one phone interviews or text-based messaging services) or in-person.
Case investigators
  • Community health workers
  • Disease intervention specialists
  • Nurses
Interview confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.
Interview newly diagnosed cases to determine period of infectiousness, elicit contacts, and identify clinical and other resource needs.
Delegate appropriate administrative work to contact tracers (e.g., finding contact information, reviewing isolation and quarantine recommendations and resources)
Care resource manager
  • Social workers
  • Case managers
Arrange wrap-around services (e.g., food, medication delivery) for cases and contacts in isolation or quarantine.
Provide incentives, food, or referral to programs that provide financial assistance.
Clinical consultant
  • Nurses
  • Nurse practitioners
  • Physicians
Provides clinical support to case investigators or contact tracers if cases/contacts become symptomatic or require referral to the hospital.
Data analyst
  • Local lay people trained and supervised by disease intervention specialists
  • Volunteers from academic public health community
Data monitoring and analysis
Data entry technician
  • Local lay people trained and supervised by disease intervention specialists
  • Volunteers from academic public health community
Careful data entry, review, and correction

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