Miami-Dade Nearly Doubles Coronavirus Contact Tracers Amid Spike

MIAMI, FL — Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Thursday that county and state officials have hammered out an agreement to nearly double the number of contact tracers working to identify the source of new coronavirus cases sweeping the county in the epicenter of Florida's outbreak.

The $14 million agreement provides an additional 250 contact tracers, including 50 case investigators, through the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County, which is a state entity. That's in addition to the 300 contact tracers already working in the county to identify the thousands of positive cases that have flooded the Miami area and put pressure on ICU units at south Florida hospitals, including Jackson Health System.

"I am happy to announce that state and county legal staffs worked out all the final details late last night and I have signed the $14 million agreement to have an additional 250 contact tracers in Miami-Dade County through the end of the year," Gimenez said Thursday morning.

Miami-Dade County accounted for 25 percent of all new coronavirus cases reported in the state between July 2 and Wednesday, according to a Patch review of data compiled by the Florida Department of Health.

The state's 67 counties collectively reported 54,677 new cases of the virus between July 2 and July 8, of which Miami-Dade reported 13,709 new cases. During that period, Florida's total cases rose from 169,106 to 223,783, including 53,974 total cases in Miami-Dade.

The contact tracers will work for the Florida Department of Health and be paid for by Miami-Dade County under federal money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or CARES. They will work for six months or until the end of the year, whichever comes first.

"As I told the surgeon general during a recent meeting, Miami-Dade County has been ready to step in and do whatever is possible within the state’s purview," Gimenez said. "So, I’m very happy today that we are moving forward."

The issue of contact tracers was raised by reporters Tuesday at a joint press conference between Gimenez and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Miami. Both leaders appeared caught off guard during the press conference as to what was holding up the additional contact tracers.

DeSantis said during the press conference that adding more contact tracers was only a partial solution to the state's coronavirus outbreak.

"It's not as simple as saying you can just contact trace everything, not when you have a largely asymptomatic illness," DeSantis said, noting many younger people do not cooperate with contact tracers.

"You do have some informal contact tracing that's gone on with younger people where someone will have a party at somebody's house and someone at that party later tests positive and they tell everyone," DeSantis added.

Gimenez also announced Thursday the county will launch a voluntary community empowerment program that will help residents track virus hot spots through an app.

"Most important, all residents must take responsibility and help stop the spread of the virus by wearing masks in all public spaces — inside and outdoors — and maintaining social distancing of at least 6 feet, as well as frequent hand washing," Gimenez said.

"If everyone does their part, we will see our positivity rate go down, our hospitals will not be overwhelmed, and we can start to reopen businesses guided by new normal rules," the mayor added.