UC San Francisco is launching a workforce training and technical assistance program on May 6, 2020, in partnership with the California Department of Public Health, to facilitate the training of thousands of individuals across the state in public health techniques and strategies, including contact tracing, case investigation and administration, to limit the ongoing spread of COVID-19. The move represents the next stage of the state’s effort to bring the COVID-19 epidemic under control and prepare the communities for a safe emergence from shelter in place.
George Rutherford, MD, professor and chief of the infectious disease and global epidemiology divisions in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics and director of the Prevention and Public Health Group at UCSF, is the principal investigator on the state contract and will be working with colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
The new UCSF Pandemic Workforce Training Academy, launched with an $8.7 million state contract, is based on a model UCSF developed with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH). The 20-hour, primarily online training program will be used by county health departments around the state to train these workers to communicate effectively with California’s highly diverse population. These workers will help link newly infected people to services so they can be safely isolated and treated until they are no longer infectious. They also will find their close contacts and provide support for these individuals to self-quarantine until they know they are not infected.
Full article at UCSF.edu.