The state is launching a new COVID-19 tracing program to track the spread of the contagious disease from person to person, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Friday.
“What we’re doing here today is the beginning of breaking of new ground in the fight against COVID-19,” Baker said. “Massachusetts will be the only state in the country putting together this kind of programming.”
Nearly 1,000 virtual contact tracers will be deployed throughout the state to connect with COVID-19 patients and their contacts to track and contain the virus through a virtual call center.
Workers will reach out to as many people as possible who came in contact with patients and may have been exposed while also ensuring those who are ill are taking steps to get healthy and prevent further spread of the virus. Baker said the goal is to be staffed and ready to go by the end of this month.
The state is currently conducting contact tracing, Baker noted, “but this program we’re talking about launching today is a much more robust, targeted approach that we hope can be highly effective at slowing the spread of this highly infectious disease.”
“We anticipate that we need to get out ahead of this and do everything we possibly can here in Massachusetts to deal with COVID-19 through and in the aftermath of the surge,” Baker said, referencing an anticipated surge in cases this month.
The program, in collaboration with Partners In Health, will also focus on efforts to leverage public college health students to augment the contact tracing being done by local boards of health. Contact tracing will be combined with the state’s efforts to increase testing.
“Enhanced tracing capacity is an enormously powerful tool,” Baker said.
As of Thursday, the state completed over 56,000 tests to date in up to 20 labs. The administration’s goal to complete 3,500 tests a day, set about 10 days ago, is being met consistently or exceeded with a total of 5,000 tests conducted Friday alone.
Baker also announced a new drive-thru testing site at Gillette Stadium for first responders that will open in the parking lot, with the expectation of testing 200 people a day, including police officers, firefighters and other personnel.
BREAKING: Gov. Charlie Baker announced a new drive-thru #coronavirus testing site at Gillette Stadium #mapoli pic.twitter.com/KGFH9DqIfd
— Mary Markos (@maryathanasia) April 3, 2020
Led by the administration’s COVID-19 Response Command Center, the program will have Partners In Health coordinate closely with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
“This is a key effort in the commonwealth’s work to slow the spread of the virus by adding capacity to reach individuals who have come in close contact with individuals are confirmed positive for COVID-19,” Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said. “I encourage residents to cooperate with the operation so that we can further slow the spread of COVID-19 in Massachusetts.”
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