NYC's Contact Tracers Speak To Nearly 2,300 People Who May Have Been Exposed To COVID-19
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York City's test and trace corps has been monitoring thousands of COVID-19 cases since the start of June, the head of the program said Tuesday.
Contact tracers spoke with 94% of the patients who had phone numbers on file.
Following those conversations, they talked to 81% of the patients' contacts - or 2,299 people, who may have been exposed.
Tracers were able to identify 331 active cases and help 1,057 people who needed access to medicine, food and other services. They also helped 40 people find hotel rooms to quarantine.
Dr. Ted Long, who heads the program, said tracers will search databases and call doctors' offices to find more phone numbers. He also said "community engagement specialists" are being trained to track people down in person.
"One of the key reasons why our program has been so successful so early on, is that more than half of all of our tracers - all of our 3,000 working tracers - are people from our hardest hit communities across New York City, making this a local effort with New Yorkers in our communities serving our communities," he said.
WATCH: Mayor Bill De Blasio's Daily COVID-19 Briefing
Long also said the program is offering community-based organizations a total of $4 million to join the effort.
Mayor Bill de Blasio shared the city's latest coronavirus indicators Tuesday, saying there were 52 new hospitalizations, 334 patients still in the ICU and 2% of people testing positive citywide.