More than 800 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members will help state health officials with contact tracing, a process considered essential to containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday.
While there are signs that social distancing measures are helping slow the spread of the coronavirus, such as a drop in hospitalizations for the respiratory disease COVID-19, public health officials are preparing for a long battle against the pandemic and contact tracing is one of the tactics they plan to use.
“Contact tracing is an important part of containing the spread of this virus and ensuring that Coloradans can keep themselves and those around them, as safe as possible,” Polis said in a statement.
Contact tracing involves identifying people who potentially had contact with an infected person to make sure they get tested and quarantine themselves.
Under the new partnership, 300 AmeriCorps members will be based in Aurora, while another 350 people will be based in Denver and Durango. Another 100 to 200 Senior Corps volunteers will be based in Denver, according to the news release.
