UAMS plans for 75 contact tracers

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' plan for covid-19 contact tracing for the state's colleges and universities will consist of two centers and 75 contact tracers, the teaching hospital announced Friday.

The centers will be in Central Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas.

UAMS agreed earlier this summer, and contracted with the Arkansas Department of Health, to conduct contact tracing for all college campuses in Arkansas. The centers are funded using a $5 million appropriation from the state's federal coronavirus monies.

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However, colleges and universities have made arrangements with other health care providers for contact tracing. The Arkansas State University System intends to use the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, on its Jonesboro campus, to assist tracing for its six campuses and Henderson State University.

Last week, UA System President Donald Bobbitt and ASU System President Chuck Welch told lawmakers during a hearing that the state funding allocated back in June was insufficient for colleges' needs to safely reopen in the fall because of the recent increases in covid-19 cases and the backlog of testing across the state.

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