AARP Hearing Center
As a contact tracer, Teresa Ayala-Castillo is sometimes asked whether herbal teas and Vicks VapoRub can treat COVID-19. These therapies aren’t exactly official health guidance, but Ayala-Castillo isn’t fazed. She listens and then suggests other ideas — like getting rest and drinking plenty of fluids.
“I don’t want to call them old wives’ tales, but these remedies are things that I’m 100 percent familiar with because my mom used them on me,” said Ayala-Castillo, a bilingual first-generation Ecuadoran American who works for the city of Long Beach, California.
Health departments across the U.S. are working at a furious pace to staff their armies of contact tracers to control the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Experts estimate local and state health departments will have to add 100,000 to 300,000 people to get the economy back on track.
AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
As they build these forces, many states and localities are striving to hire from the racial and ethnic minority communities hit hardest by the virus. They’re anticipating a need for skilled, culturally competent tracers who can convert suspicious or hesitant contacts into enthusiastic, willing participants in the drive to stamp out the virus.
Virus-tracking activities vary by state. Most states have created plans to add contact tracers through hiring or training volunteers, but wealthier ones — including California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington — are further along than others, said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
Delaware, which aims to begin hiring in a month, plans to prioritize hires with bilingual skills from vulnerable communities. Minnesota is hammering out staffing contracts with diversity quotas that match the demographics of the state’s COVID-19 cases.
“One size does not fit all for making that first call and being successful in having them pick up the phone and have a good conversation,” said Chris Elvrum, a deputy incident manager at the Minnesota Department of Health. “We need to recognize that we have to approach it in different ways for different cultural communities in the state.”
Tracking the disease works like this: After someone tests positive for COVID-19, a case investigator from the local health department calls the patient to ask detailed questions about her health, movements and with whom she interacted over a certain time frame. A contact tracer then calls everyone the patient named to let them know they were potentially exposed to the virus. These contacts are instructed to stay home and self-quarantine for 14 days after the exposure. If they live with other people, the recommendation may extend to those individuals.
Under stay-at-home orders, it’s often relatively easy to figure out who may have been exposed to the disease, health officials say. Infected people usually have been around only family or close friends and will often warn contacts to expect a call from the health department, said Emily Holman, communicable disease controller for Long Beach.
But shoe-leather fieldworkers may be required in some instances, said Kara Odom Walker, secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. “There are some communities that aren’t going to respond to a phone call, a text message or a letter,” Walker said. “That could be due to health literacy issues, which could be due to fear, or documentation status.”
