Gupta said that when the Health Department in Brazos County was initially struggling to get people to cooperate with contact tracers, he made the suggestion that doctors start telling their COVID-19 patients to expect a contact-tracing phone call.
Brooklyn College student Shernidane Romelus, a case investigator specialist in New York City, tackles what happens when people don't answer the phone — she shows up at their doors. While it's strange to knock on a stranger's door, the situation becomes even stranger when that person could be infected with a highly contagious virus, she said.
And as the science behind COVID-19 continues to evolve, the pandemic offers a unique opportunity for students to learn in real time, Clendenin said.In her Emergency Management in Public Health class, for example, she warns students that public health decisions are often politicized."And they never believe it," she said — until now.