CARLISLE, Pa. — As counties across the state move into the yellow phase, the department of health wants to step up contact tracing.
Now there's a free course that would allow anyone to be able to help.
Johns Hopkins University is offering that free course online to learn all about contact tracing and how it could give us a much better idea of how COVID-19 is effecting everyone in our communities.
Nathan Herig, who is not only the assistant chief at goodwill ems in Carlisle, he's also now a contact tracing pro.
"If we can eliminate just one of those connections of COVID-19, we could eventually eliminate the illness without a vaccine, without anything, it's just aggressive management of symptoms."
Herig says that what contract tracing is all about.
We've heard that term a lot lately in state secretary of health Doctor Rachel Levine's daily news conferences.
Here's how it works: after a person tests positive for COVID-19, a contact tracer gets in touch with that patient.
They'll talk with them about who they may have come into contact with while they were contagious.
Then the tracer will contact those people as well, let them know, and see if they have symptoms.
Herig says this can help with all sorts of data related to how COVID-19 is really impacting Pennsylvania - including how people recover.
Currently, the state department of health says it is not keeping track of recoveries.
"Getting an accurate picture of any problem helps your address it better, so that's definitely where contact tracing can play a role in that."
Herig thought it would be a good idea to take the free Johns Hopkins contact tracing course.
He says it took him about 5 hours.
"I would encourage anyone, anyone and everyone takes this course if they can because it gives you such a fundamental background that is very easy for the average person to understand."
He thinks contact tracing would be a great way to put people back to work.
"This is one way we're potentially able to put EMTs and paramedics to work to support the state. The state department of health just has to ask us and we'll be more than willing to help them out and give them a better picture of what they've got."
Here's how the department of health says people who are trained can get involved.
We also reached out to the governor's office because Governor wolf wants to start a Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps which has a big focus on contact tracing.
Wolf's office told us they're looking into it and will have more details over the next few months.