New Tool Will Help Public Health Officials Estimate the Need for COVID-19 Contact Tracing

To meet the potentially explosive demand for healthcare workers, researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health have created a novel tool that will help states and the federal government estimate the need for health care workers under different scenarios of patient infection rates and health worker attrition. The estimates provided by the new tool will help state and federal pandemic experts plan for large spikes in illness and potential shortfalls of key ICU personnel, such as respiratory therapists, intensivists, critical care nurses and others. "This pandemic has put extraordinary pressure on our health workforce," said Patricia Pittman, PhD, director of the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity. Find the publication here.