John,
Yesterday, Mike and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shared new details on a large-scale contact tracing program to help fight the COVID-19 crisis and reopen the economy. The effort will allow New York State to recruit, train, and deploy an "army" of contact tracers to track infections across the state.
The work ahead will be a model for other states -- laying the groundwork for future efforts. Resources will include a world-class online curriculum for contact tracers developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the public release of a playbook for implementing contact tracing in other communities.
To learn more about contact tracing and why it's such an important tool in this fight, watch this video with Dr. Kelly Henning, head of the Public Health Program at Bloomberg Philanthropies:
https://youtu.be/5DxIx1lD_es
Contact tracing will play a critical role in safely reopening the economy -- enabling swift detection of new cases and prevention of new infections. As Mike said during yesterday's briefing with Governor Cuomo: "When social distancing is relaxed, contact tracing is our best hope for isolating the virus when it appears -- and keeping it isolated."
Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed $10.5 million, along with organizational support and technical assistance, to help build and implement the program. The work ahead will be an important model for efforts across the country.
Watch the video to find out how contact tracing can help us responsibly reopen while protecting public health and limiting infections:
https://youtu.be/5DxIx1lD_es
Thanks,
Bloomberg Philanthropies
