Trevor Brown of Tulsa World - Dr. Candice Chen, an associate professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, said she and her team created a contact tracing workforce estimator that takes into account state demographics, data from the CDC’s social vulnerability index and updated information on testing and active COVID-19 cases. Read article. 

GW Hatchet - Researchers at the Milken Institute School of Public Health developed a tool earlier this month to determine the number of COVID-19 contact tracers needed to reopen society in the United States. The tool estimates a total of 165,000 contact tracers – people who help identify those who have come in contact with COVID-19 – are needed to reopen the country. Researchers involved in developing the tool said it will help health care officials plan ahead to determine the most accurate number of contact tracers needed to limit the spread of the outbreak. Read full article. 

Kathryn Dill of the Wall Street Journal - To safely reopen the U.S. economy, the nation needs an army of contact tracers—at least 184,000 of them, according to one estimate by researchers at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said as many as 17,000 tracers will be hired in the coming months in New York state alone. Read full article. 

Caroline Chen of ProPublica - George Washington University’s Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity has created a tool that estimates the contact tracing workforce needs by state, taking into account coronavirus case counts. As of May 7, it estimated that the United States would need about 184,000 contact tracers, or about 56 per 100,000 Americans. Read full article. 

The TIME 100: Talks Finding Hope — Equality in the Age of COVID-19 event brought together leaders to speak on a range of issues, from how the pandemic has impacted domestic and migrant workers to the importance of access to safe water. Speakers included Mullan Institute Distinguished Fellow Dr. Leana Wen, Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, politician Stacey Abrams, actor Matt Damo, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, activists Ai-Jen Poo and Mónica Ramírez, social entrepreneur Gary White and actor and singer Ben Platt.