Santa Clara County seeks volunteers for COVID-19 contact tracing

1,000-person workforce would reach out to the infected and those who were in contact with them

In an effort to help contain the spread of COVID-19, Santa Clara County public health officials are seeking hundreds of community volunteers to join an extensive contact tracing outreach program.

“Contact tracing is a fundamental public health strategy that we use for many contagious diseases,” Dr. Sarah Rudman, an assistant health officer, said Thursday during a news conference. “And it’s key to breaking chains of transmission.”

The goal is to rapidly scale up to a 1,000-person workforce. Fifteen public health experts made up the initial team, which expanded to include 50 county employees.

That was enough to trace contacts at the current rate of 15 to 30 per day, but not enough to handle the next, more ambitious stage of reaching many more people once the order to shelter in place is loosened further.

“An important part of this work is reaching out to cases, people who’ve been sick with COVID, making sure they know that they’re sick, making sure they have whatever they need to be able to safely isolate at home while they’re contagious,” Rudman said. “And then understanding who they’ve been in contact with so that we can notify those folks and get them the health care and other support they need. That’s how we get ahead of chains of transmission.”

Thirty community members were to start several hours of online training this week, and the hope is to prepare waves of 100 volunteers weekly.

“If you have skills like an ability to have sensitive conversations, provide basic health information and good customer service, we would love to have your support,” Rudman said.

“Especially if you have those language skills like Spanish or Vietnamese.”

The identities of people infected and those found to have contact with COVID-19 patients will be kept private, the health officials said.

“We need to know your test results to help take care of you,” Rudman said. “But even more important, we need to know your test results to help take care of the people around you. And that’s exactly what this contact tracing team will do.”

To volunteer, go to sccgov.org, search “I can help” and then fill out the survey.

— Dr. Sarah Rudman, assistant health officer “An important part of this work is reaching out to cases, people who’ve been sick with COVID, making sure they know that they’re sick, making sure they have whatever they need to be able to safely isolate at home while they’re contagious.”