'Army' of contact tracers will be needed in coronavirus fight. Experts say that could cost billions. - NBC News

With data continuing to suggest New York is "flattening the curve" in the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that the next phase in the battle for his state and others is on the horizon: contact tracing.But it will come at a hefty cost.The labor-intensive commitment involves identifying those who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and interviewing them to find out where they have gone and whom they’ve come in contact with, an effort that has been effective in controlling other outbreaks, including tuberculosis and SARS.Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreakBefore stay-at-home restrictions can be loosened and states and cities can begin the fragile process of emerging from isolation, public health experts warn that more people must be tested and then isolated through contact tracing to further diminish the virus's spread, while tracking who is healthy enough to go out.A contact tracer is "a detective, investigator, in the public health space," Cuomo said during a news conference. A New York State Department of Health spokeswoman said the state is "actively working on a plan to greatly expand capacity" for contact tracing, but a cost amount was not immediately given.Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Friday on MSNBC that he's "certainly thinking about" contact tracing, but getting tech companies involved with collecting people's information may raise issues surrounding privacy and civil liberties.Tech giants Apple and Google said last week they would form a partnership to build new tools that would enable people and health authorities to track the coronavirus using Bluetooth data from smartphones.Watson said while shoe-leather investigating like in Massachusetts is essential for contact tracing, the use of technology to collect and transmit information can supplement human efforts.