Contact Tracers are on the Case

What does contact tracing look like?
 
After 20 years with the Salt Lake County Public Health Department in Utah, Debbie Sorenesen has some idea. So do the dozens of brand new contact tracers the state has recruited since the pandemic began—more than tripling its number of case-finding sleuths who use everything from social media to personal persuasion to track down contacts.
 
When they get people on the phone, sometimes they also end up playing counselor to sick patients who may have lost their jobs to the pandemic.
 
“Sometimes there are no good answers other than ‘I hear you,’” says public health nurse Lee Cherie Booth.
 
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