Nearly 450 Individuals Trained as Contact Tracers Under UH Program

By this time last week, the University of Hawaiʻi-Hawaiʻi State Department of Health Contact Tracing Training Program had trained nearly 450 qualified individuals who will be available to be activated as needed, to trace known contacts of COVID-19 positive cases throughout the state.

Track 1: Contact Tracing for Clinical Healthcare Professionals, a 1.5-day training course primarily for clinical healthcare professionals, led by Associate Dean and Professor Kristine Qureshi and Associate Professor Lorrie Wong of UH Mānoa’s School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, trained a total of 393 individuals by its completion on July 17.

Track 2: Community Contact Tracer Training, a six-week course available year-round for those with at least bachelor’s degrees who may not have clinical health backgrounds, graduated 49 individuals from its first cohort on July 24. Track 2 is spearheaded by UH West Oʻahu Associate Professor Ricardo Custodio and Assistant Professor Camonia Graham-Tutt.

While Track 1 has formally completed, Track 2 has six more upcoming six-week cohorts of approximately 30–35 individuals each until the end of May 2021. The UH-DOH Contact Tracing Training Program also has an arm to train 100 community health workers over the next academic year. The community health care workers serve as health liaisons for high-risk populations and work together with contact tracers.

The requirement for the CHW program is a high school diploma or GED. For more information on any of these programs, email [email protected] or sign up online.