Contact tracers will account for thousands of new jobs in the coming weeks and months, and this free online course from Johns Hopkins teaches people how to succeed in the role in just 6 hours
- The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health has created an online course that teaches students how to become a contact tracer, a public health role that helps slow the spread of COVID-19.
- "COVID-19 Contact Tracing" takes six hours to complete and teaches students how to interview people with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, and provides guidance for self-quarantining.
- "COVID-19 Contact Tracing" is one aspect of the New York Contact Tracing program, which expects to have 6,400 to 17,000 tracers employed statewide, depending on the projected number of cases.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health has created an online introductory course that teaches students the skills needed to become contact tracers, which is a role many see as vital to slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Contact tracers work with patients with a suspected or confirmed infection to identify the people whom they've had close contact with throughout the period when they may have been infectious. Contract tracers then provide guidance to patients and their contacts on appropriate measures such as self-quarantining in order to flatten the curve.
Overview of the class "COVID-19 Contact Tracing"
The class "COVID-19 Contact Tracing" is available online through Coursera, and is taught by Emily Gurley, PhD, MPH, an infectious disease epidemiologist with a background in outbreak response. Gurley developed the course in tandem with colleagues from the Bloomberg School, including Tolbert Nyenswah, the former incident commander for the Ebola outbreak in Liberia.
This class, available free through the rest of the year, covers the science of SARS-CoV-2, including its infectious period, the clinical presentation of COVID-19, and why contact tracing can be an effective public health intervention. Students will gain an understanding of how contact tracing work is done, including how to build rapport with patients, identify their contacts, and support both the patients and their contacts to halt transmission in their communities.
Students will learn strategies through simulations to overcome some of the most common challenges contract tracers face, such as reluctance by patients to self-quarantine for two weeks. Lessons also tackle important ethical considerations regarding contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine, to help students become comfortable with sensitive dynamics.
Why are contact tracers important?
"COVID-19 Contact Tracing" was built as part of the New York Contact Tracing program launched by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in April 2020, which plans to include a baseline of 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 individuals. It is expected to have 6,400 to 17,000 tracers statewide depending on the projected number of cases.
As US weekly jobless claims hit 3 million, "COVID-19 Contact Tracing" will prepare students for contact tracer jobs for free as estimates of the pandemic's effects reach years, potentially. As states lift restrictions and more people go back to work, take public transit, and eat in restaurants, contact tracing will likely play an increasingly large role. Former government officials called for a contact tracing workforce of 180,000 throughout the US in late April, while other estimates reached as many as 300,000. The roles differ based on region, but some new positions are open to individuals with a high school diploma or equivalent.
What are other free or affordable e-learning classes related to COVID-19?
To similarly meet the demand for specialized skills quickly, online learning sites have also responded with relaxed paywall restrictions and new, affordable, and highly specific content to address some of the pandemic's fundamentally technical challenges.
edX created a course on ventilator operation in tandem with Harvard for non-ICU professionals, and Coursera lifted the paywall on 100 courses. It also started offering the contact tracing course for free, as well as a free CME-eligible course that teaches an up-to-date COVID-19 overview in as little as three hours.
Enroll in "COVID-19 Contact Tracing" here, available for free until December 31, 2020
Find more e-learning content here:
- 12 free public health courses that award a certificate upon completion — from a Yale course on disease clusters to a CME-eligible course on COVID-19
- 100 online courses from Coursera are $0 now through May 31 — here's a list of all the classes open for free enrollment
- Harvard's e-learning platform edX launched a free and fast course on ventilator use for medical professionals being reassigned to ICUs. It could help address urgent training needs in hospitals around the world.