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Purdue Global launches free COVID-19 contact tracing class

The online course will train students in contact-tracing protocols, legal requirements, effective risk communication and how to analyze collected data.
Tracking people's location and coronavirus outbreak: crowd of people keeping a safe distance and being located by a tracker app

Purdue University Global on Thursday launched a free online course that trains individuals in contact tracing to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Contact tracing has been an important disease control measure during the pandemic, allowing health officials to monitor COVID-19 as it spreads from person to person. Many states have announced contact-tracing programs and are deploying mobile applications that can notify users when they come into proximity of other users who are known to have contracted the disease.

The new course, the university said, aims to assist those critical efforts as they’re deployed.

“Ramping up the number of contact tracers from coast to coast is paramount to the ongoing successful reopening of our country,” Purdue University Global chancellor Frank Dooley said in a press release.

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Individuals who take the self-study course will be taught how COVID-19 is contracted and transmitted, strategies to reduce the spread of the disease, contact-tracing protocols, legal requirements, effective risk communication and how to analyze collected data.

“In addition to explaining all the latest information about the coronavirus, we will present important material focused on legal requirements of contact tracing and effective communication,” Melissa Burdi, dean and vice president-elect for the Purdue Global School of Nursing, said in the release.

For a limited time, Purdue Global has made the course free and will also make the course available to government agencies, educational institutions and businesses to support their specific needs.

Betsy Foresman

Written by Betsy Foresman

Betsy Foresman was an education reporter for EdScoop from 2018 through early 2021, where she wrote about the virtues and challenges of innovative technology solutions used in higher education and K-12 spaces. Foresman also covered local government IT for StateScoop, on occasion. Foresman graduated from Texas Christian University in 2018 — go Frogs! — with a BA in journalism and psychology. During her senior year, she worked as an intern at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and moved back to the capital after completing her degree because, like Shrek, she feels most at home in the swamp. Foresman previously worked at Scoop News Group as an editorial fellow.

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