Legislative Memo: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity of COVID-19 Contact Tracers

Contact tracing will only be effective if individuals who are diagnosed with COVID-19 are willing to share their contacts and if their contacts are willing to act on the information the contact tracers provide. Both sides of this transaction require community trust. S. 8829 (Martinez)/A. 10567-A (Jean-Pierre) takes important steps to build this trust by requiring that all contact tracers hired after its effective date represent the cultural and linguistic diversity of the communities they serve and by requiring annual reporting on contact tracer diversity. The NYCLU supports this legislation and urges its expedient passage.