On Monday, May 11, 2020, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health launched a new Coursera aimed at training contact tracers to help reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. I completed the course yesterday, and I have to say it was well taught, clear, and easy to understand. The course covered the science around SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19, how that impacts contact tracing for the disease, the importance of contact tracing, key legal underpinnings of privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, justice, and common good, along with communication techniques and tools as best practices for contact tracing. At ~6hours to complete, it requires some dedication, but I learned an incredible amount from the class. I'd recommend the class for anyone wishing to better understand the current pandemic and one of the most important tools we have at hand currently to help reduce transmission of this disease, even if you don't plan to become a contact tracer for your public health system.
Thanks Dr. Emily Gurley and the staff at the Bloomberg School for making this available to the world at this difficult time. As a Hopkins alumnus (BA Biology 2000), I'm proud of all the work being done by Johns Hopkins University and its affiliates on this pandemic.