Contact Tracers
Overview
Introduction
Infectious diseases are caused by organisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. They can be passed from person to person, be transmitted to humans by insects and other animals, or be passed on to humans when they consume contaminated water or food or are exposed to organisms in the environment. Examples of infectious diseases include measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, chickenpox, sexually transmitted diseases (such as syphilis), SARS, Ebola, and COVID-19. Contact tracers are public health profess...
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
Earnings for contact tracers generally range from $15 to $25 per hour. In September 2024, ZipRecruiter reported that contact tracers were paid an average of $19.40 per hour, with a range of $13.46 to $25.24. Partners in Health (a global nonprofit health organization) paid contact tracers working in Massachusetts during the COVID-19 pandemic $27 per hour.
Full-time contact tracers receive...
Work Environment
Contact tracers work in traditional office settings or in home offices. A person who is comfortable talking on the phone with strangers will be more successful at this job than one who is introverted. This job can be occasionally stressful when the tracer must interact with people who distrust the government or other authority figures or become angry that they have been exposed to someone with ...
Outlook
There is a severe shortage of contact tracers in the United States and in many other countries. This shortage was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic (which began in 2019 and ceased to be a public health emergency on May 5, 2023) when there were not enough contact tracers to effectively track the spread of the virus.
Early during the pandemic, an April 2020 report from the Johns Hopki...