When someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, an entire team of people gets to work to try to determine who else may be at risk of contracting the virus.
They’re called contact tracers and it’s their job to track down everyone the person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus may have infected or come in contact with prior to their diagnosis.
Dr. Grace Salvo is a medical officer of health, and contact tracer, with Alberta Health Services. She said contact tracing isn’t new — it’s something they’ve been practicing in public health for many years.
However, the provincial team has grown exponentially from about 50 tracers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to 440 now. “It is a big job,” Salvo said. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the