Workforce

All staff completed courses on COVID-19 in addition to role-specific exercises, Salesforce orientation, and trainings on privacy and confidentiality.¹⁹ Staff also completed training in health equity, trauma-informed care, and implicit bias. Most trainings were conducted remotely. The community engagement team received additional in-person trainings not required of remote staff (eg, use of personal protective equipment and safety). All case investigators and community engagement specialists lived in NYC, and more than 50% were hired from communities hardest hit by COVID-19; together, these staff spoke over 40 languages.

Trace launched June 1, 2020, and at its peak in August 2020 had a workforce of 3990 contact tracers, with 4147 contact tracers cumulatively hired throughout the course of the program. Most staff (87%) performed their jobs completely remotely.