Sonoma County hiring coronavirus contact tracers

Sonoma County is actively hiring dozens of contact tracers to bolster its corps of coronavirus investigators tasked with interviewing people infected with or exposed to COVID-19, a key part of the county’s plan to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Job application information is available via yourpath2sonomacounty.org under the positions titled Community Health Worker I and II. Starting wages for the hourly positions range from the high teens to the lower twenties, with $1.15 per hour bilingual bonuses possible. Workload will range from 20 to 40 hours per week.

Sonoma County’s contact tracers will be asked to complete a 20-hour online course and attend a potentially in-person orientation before beginning their work remotely, according to the job postings. Job duties include interviewing contacts, explaining COVID-19 exposure and symptoms, referring people for testing and providing quarantine instructions, according to the postings.

The county plans to have 150 trained contact tracing staff by June 15 and 230 by July 15, according to a document filed with state health officials. At least 75 had been hired by the middle of last week.