Governor Raimondo has announced that the state will be hiring 100 new people to assist with the Department of Health’s contact tracing system. Recent hiring has brought the the full-time tracing team up to 300 people.
The state has contracted with Knowledge Services to run the hiring, but you will work on-site at the Department of Health.
That site has information on the tracing protocols, “soft skills requirements” and general info. How long will this last? Will this be phone calling only, or also field work?
These new positions will be contracted for an emergency short-term basis, which is currently planned to be 6-12 months.
The roles will be on-site at RIDOH, remote work may be available after a 4-6-week training period and a competency assessment.
The Governor adds that this job may not be for everyone; tracers have been getting pushback from the people they contact. According to WPRI:
“The level of aggression that our contact tracers are receiving in the past couple of weeks from folks just because they’re trying to do their job is not OK, it’s not OK,” Raimondo said. “These are human beings, these are just moms and dads and Rhode Islanders just doing their job.”
The good news is that the hiring is starting now. The bad news is more people are needed as cases are spiking.
The Department of Health said they are hiring immediately and people will be trained depending on their previous experience before starting work.