You could earn $22 an hour helping fight the spread of COVID-19. Here’s how
More than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment since businesses started closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, but a new opportunity can help you get back on your feet.
And the best part is you can do the job from anywhere in the country.
For five days a week, you can help trace the contacts of those who have been infected with COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — to help stop the spread of the pathogen, according to a job posting by the Washington, D.C, based company called CONTRACE Public Health Corps.
You can earn an average of $17 to $22 an hour Monday through Friday during eight to 12-hour shifts, the job posting said.
You can also volunteer to do the job if you’re feeling generous.
After answering 23 “quick” questions in less than five minutes, you’ll be on your way to protecting communities from the disease, according to the posting — and to a fuller wallet.
What is contract tracing?
“Almost every infection has a period of time during which a person with the infection is considered contagious,” Dr. Prathit Kulkarni, from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said, according to the World Economic Forum. “Contact tracing is the process of figuring out who was in enough contact with the person during the time they were infectious that they may have been exposed.”
The job is as simple as asking people who may have been in contact with a contagious individual to self-quarantine for two weeks and to provide their contacts. In some cases, you may have to refer a person to a testing center, the CONTRACE posting said.
“Contact tracing is the largest U.S. civilian mobilization since World War II,” the CONTRACE website said. “You can make a difference in your community in the fight against COVID-19 by becoming a home-based contact tracer.”
Efforts to fund contact tracing jobs recently received backing from the U.S. government. The Department of Labor announced Tuesday that the Dislocated Worker Grant — designed to temporarily employ people to help with the coronavirus public health emergency — can be used for contact tracing.
“Because contact tracing is an allowable cost of Disaster DWG funds, the department encourages states to expend these funds on activities that involve identifying and notifying individuals who may have been exposed to the coronavirus to slow or stop the spread of the virus,” the statement from the DOL said. “If tracing is conducted thoroughly and properly, it can be an effective tool to quarantine and isolate potential cases of the virus and may contribute to its containment.”
The CONTRACE job posting said while preference will be given to nurses and people with healthcare experience, others need to be a U.S. resident, have at least a high school diploma and access to the internet and a mobile phone.
Second or multiple languages are a plus, the posting said, as well as “excellent interpersonal skills” and an “ability to show empathy to distressed individuals.”
Contact tracing, stressed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a “core disease control measure,” has been working in other countries affected by COVID-19, such as China, Germany and South Korea, where rates of infection have been declining or plateauing.
But the U.S., with its more than 1.2 million confirmed cases, is going to need help from as many people as possible, experts say.
As of last week, the District of Columbia had about 7,602 workers on staff doing contact tracing, according to NPR.
But at least 15 health workers per 100,000 people are needed to ensure contact tracing is effective at slowing the spread of the virus, according to a position statement from the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
During a pandemic, however, that ratio should stand at 30 workers per 100,000 people, officials say.
A survey conducted by NPR revealed that out of 41 states that responded, just Michigan, Nebraska and North Dakota, along with D.C., are in a position to reach the recommended number of contact tracers per capita.
Healthcare and government leaders say the “existing public health system is currently capable of providing only a fraction of the contact tracing and voluntary self-isolation capacity required to meet the COVID-19 challenge,” according to the outlet.
And time is of the essence, the CDC warns: “Immediate action is needed.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 9:01 AM with the headline "You could earn $22 an hour helping fight the spread of COVID-19. Here’s how."
