Report 2020-612 Recommendation 2 Responses

Report 2020-612: California Department of Public Health: It Could Do More to Ensure Federal Funds for Expanding the State's COVID‑19 Testing and Contact Tracing Programs Are Used Effectively (Release Date: April 2021)

Recommendation #2 To: Public Health, Department of

To better leverage contact tracing as a tool to limit the spread of COVID-19, Public Health should, by June 15, 2021, create and implement an updated plan, in partnership with local health jurisdictions, to hire, train, and retain the number of tracing staff it determines is necessary to limit the spread of COVID-19, including expanding the pool of reassigned state employees functioning as tracing staff.

Many California local health jurisdictions (LHJs) already have in place the base plus reserve Case Investigators (CI), Contact Tracers (CT), and supervisory staff numbers determined necessary by the revised staffing plan estimate for the most likely scenario of daily maximum COVID-19 case numbers projected in California over the next six months. Most LHJs are also currently using federal funding to support the hiring of additional needed local Case Investigators and Contact Tracers (CICT) staff. The CDPH CT Program will continue to supply local workforce capacity as needed, to bridge the gap for those LHJs that are unable to meet their local COVID-19 CICT staffing requirements. The CT Program will ensure this supply using either CDPH-hired or CDC-Foundation-supplied CICT staff, either through the extension of a reduced number of state-redirected staff, or through staffing supplied via a new California Public Health Reserve Corps that has been developed to create an infrastructure of trained CICT and supervisor staff that can be activated rapidly in the event of a moderate or more extreme surge in cases. Additionally, the CDPH CT Program has partnered with UCSF/UCLA to launch a new two-year California Public Health Corps Training and Pathways Program which is supporting 45 entry-level communicable disease control staff who have been placed in 38 host LHJs across the state for on-the-job training after completion of an initial intensive training curriculum. In partnership with the UCSF/UCLA Virtual Training Academy and LHJ partners, the CDPH CT Program will continue to ensure that the CICT workforce statewide is sufficiently trained to effectively perform contact tracing duties.

https://cdphcontacttracers.powerappsportals.us/PHReserveCorpsApplication/

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

Many California local health jurisdictions (LHJs) already have in place the base plus reserve CI, CT, and supervisory staff numbers determined necessary by the revised staffing plan estimate for the most likely scenario of daily maximum COVID-19 case numbers projected in California over the next six months. Most LHJs are also currently using federal funding to support the hiring of additional needed local CICT staff. The CDPH CT Program will continue to supply local workforce capacity as needed to bridge the gap for those LHJs that are unable to meet their local COVID-19 CICT staffing requirements. The CT Program will ensure this supply using either CDPH-hired or CDC-Foundation-supplied CICT staff, through the extension of a reduced number of state-redirected staff, or through staffing supplied via a new California Public Health Reserve Corps that is being developed to create an infrastructure of trained CICT and supervisor staff that can be activated rapidly in the event of a moderate or more extreme surge in cases. Additionally, the CDPH CT Program has partnered with UCSF/UCLA to launch a new two-year California Public Health Corps Training and Pathways Program which is supporting 45 entry-level communicable disease control staff who have been placed in 38 host LHJs across the state for on-the-job training after completion of an initial intensive training curriculum. In partnership with the UCSF/UCLA Virtual Training Academy and LHJ partners, the CDPH CT Program will continue to ensure that the CICT workforce statewide is sufficiently trained to effectively perform contact tracing duties.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The majority of California LHJs already have in place the needed base CI, CT, and supervisory staff determined necessary in the revised staffing plan estimate, as well as local reserve staffing that can be activated in the event of an increase in local case numbers. The CDPH CT Program will partner to supply local workforce capacity as needed to meet the projected needs of the COVID-19 response for those LHJs that are unable to meet these base and reserve staffing requirements. The CT Program will ensure this supply using either CDPH-hired CICT staff, or, if needed, through the extension of a reduced number of state redirected staffing. In partnership with the UCSF/UCLA Virtual Training Academy and LHJ partners, the CDPH CT Program will continue to ensure that the CICT workforce is sufficiently trained to effectively perform contact tracing duties. Additionally, the CDPH CT Program is partnering with UCSF/UCLA to launch two new staffing programs that will provide enhanced support to LHJs with their local contact tracing efforts: (1) the California Public Health Corps Training and Pathways Program will support a two-year training program for 45 entry-level communicable disease control staffing who will be placed in host LHJs across the state for on-the-job training upon completion of an initial intensive training curriculum; (2) a new California Public Health Reserve Corps is being developed to create an infrastructure of already experienced and trained CI, CT and supervisor staff that can be reactivated rapidly in the event of an unanticipated surge in cases.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2020-612

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.