New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals will lead the city's effort to track COVID-19 cases and contacts, according to The New York Times.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said May 8 that the New York City test and trace corps will comprise 2,500 public health experts who will "lead the way in creating testing and tracing."
"And they are going to bring together a huge amount of expertise. The expertise of folks who have spent a lifetime in public service and in healthcare, but also the expertise gained from these last months fighting this disease at the frontline," Mr. de Blasio said.
NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD, told the Times the public hospital system will do the contact tracer hiring and enter into contracts for testing and other services.
Dr. Katz said NYC Health + Hospitals also will oversee some COVID-19 testing, as well as housing of people who could not quarantine at home, but the tracing would be supervised by the city's health department.
Mr. de Blasio expects the test and trace corps to comprise 2,500 workers by early June and eventually reach between 5,000 and 10,000 people.
This story was updated at 3:32 CDT on May 8.