Job Alert: The US Needs 184,000 Contact Tracers | Are You Qualified?

It's been weeks since the U.S. has started reopening the economy, but the coronavirus is still everywhere. Its effect lies in the fact that millions of people have lost their jobs since mid-March. 

Early last month, researchers reported that the U.S. needs about 184,000 contact tracers, which could help open a lot of job opportunities.

Are you qualified to become a contact tracer?

Despite its name sounding technically inclined, the fact is that you don't really need to have a college degree to become a contact tracer. However, while the job doesn't involve a lot of detective work, you need to have critical-thinking skills and persistence. Experts believe that these two are essential factors in succeeding in the job.

Christiana Coyle, a professor at New York University's School of Global Public Health professor, Christiana Coyle, talked about the fundamental requirement for being a contact tracer.

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She explained that a common misconception on the job is that one needs to have knowledge and experience in public health. Although this could be a plus, Coyle says that what's important is that as a contact tracer, you are comfortable with these three things: medical terminology, working through a script, and cold-calling people, with emphasis on the last item.

"For me, cold-calling was the hardest part," she said. "You're giving people news that's potentially very disturbing and serious. You never know what you'll encounter on the other end of the phone."

Coyle is also a former contact tracer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York.

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Basically, as a contact tracer, your task would be to reach out to people who were potentially in contact with a COVID-19 positive patient. This includes immediate family members, friends, roommates, and coworkers. You then follow an easy script, but the catch is that you have to be ready to handle people's reactions, given that you are delivering bad news. 

Contact tracing is not a new technique at all. It has been proven effective in monitoring the spread of other diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and measles.

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