ORLANDO, Fla. — Data shows the majority of new COVID-19 cases are people from ages 15 to 30. In the middle of that age group are college students.
The University of Central Florida is now looking to track the spread with student coronavirus contact tracers.
In all, 700 students applied to be a student contact tracer, and six were chosen.
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Officials said students went through rigorous training and now work alongside the Orange County Department of Health to help track down COVID-19 exposure among their peers.
College students live all over the place - dorms, apartments and sorority houses – and also hang out all over the place; bars, restaurants and pubs.
Desiree Rivera is a student contact tracer. She works to track down UCF students who have tested positive for COVID-19.
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Contact tracers ask a series of questions to try to figure out where a person could’ve been infected.
Dr. Karina Villalba, with UCF’s College of Medicine, helps lead the team. She said that UCF decided to do this because students are often more open and honest with their peers.
Several positive cases at UCF have been identified as a direct result of contact tracing.
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The university could add more student contact tracers if they start seeing an increase in cases.
The student volunteers work 10 hours a week and then meet on Fridays to talk about how it all went.
See the full report in the video above.
Cox Media Group
