Gov. Andrew Cuomo promises ‘contact tracing army’ for tri-state region; Connecticut ranks third in deaths per capita
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York promised Wednesday to build a “contact tracing army” in partnership with Connecticut and New Jersey and with help from billionaire Michael Bloomberg, as the region attempts to move past its coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo said he has spoken to Gov. Ned Lamont as well as Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey about the plan, which will let authorities track the contacts of people infected with COVID-19 so those exposed can be isolated to prevent further spread of the virus.
Experts say mass contact tracing must be part of any plan to reopen schools and businesses as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Cuomo said Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and Democratic candidate for president, will help develop and implement the contact-tracing plan. Bloomberg has committed $10 million to the project, he said.
“How do we do it?” Cuomo said. “I don’t know, we’ve never done it before. Michael Bloomberg will design the program, design the training, he’s going to make a financial contribution also, put together an organization that’s going to help hire the people. ... This has to happen, you don’t have months to plan to do this, you have weeks to get this up and running.
Researchers from the University of Washington now estimate that Connecticut may be able to relax its social distancing after June 7 “with containment strategies that include testing, contact tracing, isolation, and limiting gathering size.”
Coronavirus deaths in Connecticut remain “still disturbingly high,” with Connecticut among the top five states for cases and deaths per capita. The state is “by no means out of th…
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