Deadline to apply as contract tracers on Wednesday

September 22, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday said application for contact tracers will only be accepted in all provincial and city field offices until Wednesday.

Año said the additional 50,000 contract tracers are due for approval of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 Law.

He called the additional recruitment as the “game changer” in the government’s response to COVID-19 as this will allow them to cut  transmission of the virus.

“These 50K contact tracers will greatly amplify our COVID-19 efforts and further decrease our daily cases,”Año said.

Año said the 50,000 contact tracers to be hired will be assigned to the various contact tracing teams  of the local government units.

Around 19.2 percent of the new contact tracers will be deployed in the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) as it remains as one of the hotspots of COVID-19.

At present, contact tracing teams are composite units led by the municipal or city health officers with members from the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams  and volunteers from civil society organizations.

Applicants are required to submit an application letter, personal data heet, National Bureau of Investigation clearance, and drug test result to the nearest DILG provincial or city field office.

DILG said contractual personnel whose employment were not renewed, overseas Filipino workers whose employment were disrupted, local employees who have been recently terminated, and barangay health workers may be given priority in the hiring process, if qualified.

To qualify, the applicant must have a bachelor’s degree or college level in an allied medical course or criminology course.

Aspirants must also be skilled in data gathering and assisted in research and documentation; able to interview COVID-19 cases and close contacts  to gather data; possess the ability to advocate public health education messages, and have investigative capability.

Under the guidelines drafted by the DILG, contact tracers will earn a minimum of P18,784 per month in a contract of service status.

Among their responsibilities are to conduct interviews, profiling, and perform an initial public health risk assessment of COVID-19 cases and their identified close contacts; refer the close contacts to isolation facilities; conduct enhanced contact tracing in collaboration with other agencies and private sectors; conduct daily monitoring of close and general contacts for at least 14 days, and perform such other tasks in relation to the COVID response.  Ella Dionisio/DMS