Now, as these public attacks further cripple public health agencies, a 天美影视传媒 public health expert is calling for action to defend and support public health agencies in communities across the state. The loss of local health expertise resulting from these attacks will have long-term consequences beyond the pandemic.

鈥淓ven as our local and state public health leaders and staff work tirelessly and heroically this year to keep us healthy and reduce the load on our hospitals, we have seen countless examples of harassment and threats directed at them,鈥� said , a professor in the School of Nursing and director of the UW Northwest Center for Public Health Practice.

鈥淧ublic policymakers, leaders of our health care system and the public need to get behind the work of local public health officials,鈥� said Bekemeier, who has decades of experience working with, studying and supporting public health efforts and systems in the Pacific Northwest and nationally. 鈥淭his is work that generally goes on behind the scenes and that we all deeply depend on for our health and safety, whether we realize it or not. We cannot expect to have healthy communities without them 鈥� now or when this pandemic is eventually behind us.鈥�

She added that these experts are the first line of leadership when a health crisis occurs, and the pandemic is just one of many crises these agencies are battling every day. Public health leaders historically have had the respect and relationships in local communities that help them make the tough calls to get a community back on its feet. These tough calls may mean, for example, closing a restaurant that鈥檚 not changed its unsafe food handling practices, or sending kids home from school during a measles outbreak if they have not been immunized.

鈥淏ut that situation has all been turned on its head for no fault of the public health experts in their communities,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 go into these jobs as politicians. They go into them with backgrounds in science and community-building and, under normal circumstances, that means they have community support behind them during tough situations, like outbreaks or food safety recalls, and that has worked really well.鈥�

Joining Bekemeier in this call for state leaders to take action on behalf of public health workers is Jefferson Ketchel, executive director of the Washington State Public Health Association. Ketchel, who has a graduate degree from UW Bothell, also has decades of experience with public health in the state as previous administrator of Snohomish Health District, Grant County Health District and other positions.

鈥淪ome of our public health leaders have been in their jobs for decades. They are passionate about the work, but it is not an easy job. They put in countless hours protecting our health and preventing disease. I am disappointed that we don鈥檛 see greater support and more of our elected leaders vocally and visibly behind them,鈥� Ketchel said.

Bekemeier and Ketchel hope that policymakers will show their support for public health workers and be their advocate; that other medical professionals will speak on behalf of the critical role public health workers play in their work and health system. They hope community members will tell their friends, family and neighbors to recognize and thank their local public health officials.

鈥淏ecause without them, the alternative is more hospital beds and ventilators,鈥� Bekemeier said.

As businesses and public spaces reopen across the nation, the old-school public health detective work known as contact tracing is becoming a major component of the battle to contain the novel coronavirus that causes the deadly COVID-19 disease.

It鈥檚 an investigative strategy long used for finding and informing people exposed to contagious diseases, such as measles and STDs, and now agencies across the country focused on combating the pandemic need support to expand their workforce to conduct contact-tracing interviews and save lives.

To provide training for this expanding workforce, the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 created the free, online course to support public health agencies 鈥� including smaller, rural public health districts and tribal health departments 鈥� to help their existing and growing workforce in the art and science of conducting a contact-tracing interview.

“At the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, we were keenly aware of the strain public health workers and agencies were under long before the novel coronavirus hit,鈥� said , professor in the UW School of Nursing and director of the center. 鈥淎s COVID-19 spread, we knew from practice partners that a training was needed for the public health workforce that 鈥媍ould quickly and efficiently assist a wide variety of public health agencies.”

While Washington state has launched a large-scale effort to train contract tracers, other states and their partners can take similar steps using instead of creating all of their own training from the ground up. This is why Every Contact Counts was developed at the request of and in partnership with the Kansas Health Institute, which has been helping Kansas enhance its contact-tracing efforts at the state level. Now, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is requiring Every Contact Counts as part of its training plan for all new contact tracers.

鈥淲e wanted to create a foundational training that not only met the needs for us in Kansas, but could support other states across the country in assisting their own local health departments where a lot of the COVID-19 containment work is being done,” said Charles Hunt, a senior analyst with the Kansas Health Institute. “While many local health departments manage their own contact-tracing workforce, they need access to training resources, like Every Contact Counts, that set their staff up for success and protect their communities.”

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration promoted the training in an email to public health professionals, along with the and other national organizations.

With Every Contact Counts, professionals will learn to describe contact tracing and why it鈥檚 important to public health, articulate why COVID-19 is unique when it comes to contact tracing, identify the key components of a successful contact-tracing interview and complete an interview with confidence, clarity and compassion.

Since each state has slightly different policies for containing the outbreak, the UW training provides a foundation for performing contact tracing and a certificate to verify successful completion of the course.

鈥淐ontact tracing is going to be an essential part of our reopening and containment efforts moving forward,鈥� said , professor of epidemiology in the UW School of Public Health whose work with UW graduate students provided the basis for the training. 鈥淲e need to trace every contact possible, because every contact counts in stopping this disease.鈥�

Cold-calling people who have tested positive for the virus or who may have been exposed to it 鈥� and getting them the information and help they need to self-isolate 鈥� can be challenging. While some will be thankful for the information and help, others can be annoyed or agitated. Protecting privacy is paramount in these encounters, and some subjects may actively resist engaging with the interviewer. The UW training is designed to help interviewers approach, with skill and compassion, the fears and the sudden, dramatic change in their lives that subjects face.

The training falls into three main categories 鈥� what contact tracing is, contact-tracing specifics for COVID-19, and communicating with cases and contacts. Exercises include interview skill-building videos, section quizzes and an exercise where participants practice key decision-making during a contact interview.

Throughout the training site are tips and encouragement from experienced contact tracers, such as this segment from Neil Abernethy at the UW School of Medicine:

At the end of the course, there鈥檚 a final assessment. Participants who receive a score of 80% or better will get a non-credit certificate of completion that they can download and use to verify the training they received.

鈥淲ith聽Every Contact Counts, we want public health professionals to feel like they have the聽knowledge and resources聽to complete a contact-tracing interview with confidence, clarity and compassion,鈥� said ,聽e-learning manager at the Northwest Center. 鈥淲e know they will be talking to聽community members聽who are scared, overwhelmed聽or聽possibly even聽dismissive of聽contact-tracing聽efforts.聽This training helps聽interviewers聽prepare and practice聽so they can聽provide needed information in a way that encourages people to listen and slow the spread聽of聽COVID-19.鈥�

The Northwest Center for Public Health Practice developed this training, which was made possible thanks to a grant from the and contributions by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Health Institute.

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For more information, news media can contact Baseman jbaseman@uw.edu and Bekemeier at bettybek@uw.edu.

Learn more about the 鲍奥鈥檚 Population Health Initiative: a 25-year, interdisciplinary effort to bring understanding and solutions to the biggest challenges facing communities.