UT Health’s School of Public Health and San Antonio Metro Health are now hiring 250 case investigators and contact tracers in the battle against COVID-19.
Dr. Jack Tsai, the regional dean of UT Health’s School of Public Health local campus, says an individual can apply for both positions, but case investigators will be hired first.
“Case investigators call people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to find out the places they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact with," he explained. "So essentially they’re developing a list of people and places.”
That list of people and places is then used by contact tracers to locate and provide information to those who may have been exposed to the illness.
Case investigators earn $18 an hour, and contact tracers are paid $15 an hour. A high school education and two year’s experience interacting with the public are preferred. Anyone interested can apply here.
Tsai said hiring will be a time consuming process.
“We do expect a large amount of applicants, so please be patient if we do not respond instantly to your application,” he said. “And it does not mean we aren’t interested. It will take us some time to review applications, and we will be hiring in batches in the coming weeks and months."
Local health officials say contact tracing is crucial to stemming the spread.
Frustrating that process since the outbreak began has been a 50% response rate to outgoing calls from Metro Health to patients who have tested positive.
Metro Health officials hope new Caller I.D. on outgoing calls will increase the response rate.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg has said those who see a call on their phone beginning with the numbers 210-207 should answer because it is likely the health department trying to reach them.
Brian Kirkpatrick can be reached at Brian@tpr.org and on Twitter at @TPRBrian.
TPR was founded by and is supported by our community. If you value our commitment to the highest standards of responsible journalism and are able to do so, please consider making your gift of support today.
