Christina Cassidy, Atlanta-based state government reporter, collaborating with Miami photographer Lynne Sladky, found that as states begin to reopen, local health departments charged with tracking down everyone who has been in close contact with a person who tests positive for the new coronavirus are still scrambling to hire the number of people they need to do the job. AP’s review showed that states are often hundreds – even thousands – of people short of the targets for contact tracing. https://bit.ly/2XgDcQn
AP review finds states understaffed for contact tracing
Maria Fernanda conducts contact tracing at the Florida Deptartment of Health in Miami-Dade County, Doral, Fla., during the coronavirus pandemic, May 13, 2020. An AP review found that in state after state, local health departments charged with tracing the contacts of coronavirus patients are falling well short of the number of people needed to do the job.
AP Photo / Lynne Sladky