News Archive
HGEA files grievance on behalf of DOH contact tracers
August 10, 2020
HGEA has filed a grievance on behalf of all affected Department of Health employees who are/were required to perform COVID-19 contact tracing, field swabbing and outreach response duties.
The issue of the DOH being unable to adequately contact trace is now abundantly clear after State Senators on the COVID-19 committee visited the DOH on Friday to find very few contact tracers.
Our members have been working incredibly hard to keep up with contact tracing but it has become an impossible task. Had the DOH brought on additional staff more quickly, this steady surge in cases may have been mitigated. This grievance represents the tip of the iceberg of a much larger public health problem.
HGEA implores our government leaders to put all differences aside, hire sufficient contact tracers, and promptly implement policies that will get this surge under control. The health of our entire community is at stake.