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MORGANTOWN -- An online course on contact tracing for the COVID-19 virus has been developed by the West Virginia University School of Public Health and the state Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health.
The course, Contact Tracing for COVID-19, launched this week with the goal to train a ready pool of public health investigators in West Virginia. All participants who complete the course are required to assist with contact tracing throughout the pandemic.
Candidates for the initial offering include members of the National Guard and anyone assisting the Department of Health and Human Resources or local health departments. Senior undergraduate and graduate level students in public health, health professional programs and related fields may still participate and are encouraged to consult with their academic mentors if activities in this course could count toward required clinical or service hours.
All practical activities associated with the course will be tracked in iServe.
Didactic modules of the course include Basics of Infectious Disease Epidemiology with Reference to COVID-19, General Overview of COVID-19 Testing, Infection Control Measures for COVID-19, Public Health Surveillance, and practical training in contact tracing using standardized methods developed by DHHR's Bureau for Public Health.
A capstone project connects each participant with a health department to complete contact tracings under supervision and is required for all participants.
This is a non-credit course at present, but a credit-bearing option for the summer semester is forthcoming. Participants interested in obtaining credit may wish to register for the course at a later date.
For more information, contact Joanna DiStefano at Joanna.DiStefano@hsc.wvu.edu or Chris Martin at cmartin@hsc.wvu.edu.