NEW YORK (WKBW) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday the state would launch a COVID-19 testing/tracing program in partnership with New Jersey and Connecticut.
Cuomo says the key moving forward is testing, tracing, and isolating. You test a person, if they test positive you trace who that person came in contact with, and you isolate.
The governor says a tracing army will be put together in partnership with New Jersey and Connecticut because the virus doesn't stop at jurisdictional boundaries.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has volunteered to help develop and implement the program for the state.
NEW: New York will launch a testing/tracing program in unison with CT and NJ.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 22, 2020
Mayor @MikeBloomberg has volunteered to help us develop the program.
I thank him for taking this on with us — it will be expensive, challenging & require an army of tracers.
But it must be done.
Johns Hopkins University and Vital Strategies will also be a partner in the program helping to recruit, educate, and train the tracers.
There is a core of around 500 tracers in place at this time, but the state will work with SUNY and CUNY to draw tracers from around 35,000 medical students. Cuomo says thousands of tracers will be needed.
