New Yorkers may soon get a phone call from officials who are tracking down people who have come into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo shared the plan for a tracing program on Thursday, saying the measures are “for your health.”
“A person who tests positive, the tracers will then contact that person and ask who they may have exposed,” the Democrat said. “And you could get a phone call following up on this tracing information saying you were with John Smith last night, John Smith is now positive, you may want to be tested.”
[Read more: ‘We should have gotten on this earlier’: Public health experts warn US lag in contact tracing could delay comeback]
Cuomo said people who had interacted with someone who tests positive for the coronavirus would receive a phone call instructing them to get tested.
“On your telephone, if you have one of the new fancy phones, which I do not, it will come up NYS Contact Tracing,” Cuomo added. “You should answer that call, it’s not a hoax, it’s not a scam, it’s not a fraud, that is an official message saying New York state contact tracing is calling. So, if you get that message, take that phone call, it’s for your health, it’s for your family’s health.”
Cuomo first announced the tracing program on April 30 when he said controlling the disease would require “a tracing army.”
