ROANOKE, Va. – Dozens of contact tracers may be needed in Southwest Virginia to help combat the coronavirus.
Governor Northam announced the Virginia Department of Health plans to hire 1,000 contact tracers to work throughout the state.
Contact tracers help track down who an infected person may have come in contact with.
Roanoke Alleghany Health District Director Dr. Molly O’Dell said the recommendation is to have 30 tracers for every 100,000 people.
“For folks that work in state government, we can request agencies to transfer workers to help us with contact tracing if we want that,” O’Dell said.
She added that a work group has also been created to look at alternatives to contact tracing.