A Victorian contact tracer who asked to stay anonymous tells Crikey what it’s like working across the state’s sixth lockdown.
At the end of the fourth lockdown, I got a job as a contact tracer in Victoria. I’m studying public health and saw that the hospital put a call out for contact tracers and figured the job was closely related to my future career prospects.
At first, things were pretty clunky and slow, but soon enough the unit got proficient at tasks, with QR codes making things a lot easier. The computer system tells us the names, phone numbers, and exposure sites people were at. Interviews used to take four hours, but now they’re down to 30 minutes. Shifts were actually pretty hard to come by in the beginning but with this wave, things ramped up.
Now we’re no longer linking mystery cases unless there’s clear transmission and no longer collecting information about where infectious people have been unless they’re been to a high-risk location like a school or hospital. This means you might have come into contact with someone infectious in a store, but it won’t be listed as an exposure site.
The hardest part of the job is the personal part — telling someone they might have COVID-19 and have to isolate from their children and families. It’s really hard for them and we just try to walk them through the rules about what happens when their test result gets back.
We tell them if they develop symptoms they need to call an ambulance, but some people say their symptoms are just asthma. You don’t know that. You need to go to the hospital.
Speaking to sick people or people who might have COVID-19 is incredibly sad. It’s really hard to hear babies coughing and crying — there’s no vaccine for them and there’s nothing they can do. I’ve spoken to parents who are too tired to talk to us because of the disease. It makes people so, so sick.
The most frustrating thing is seeing people in public not following the rules, not wearing masks, or hearing about people having gatherings. I see these people on the street and I know those are the ones I’m going to be on the phone to at some point.
We used to work in the hospital but are now doing our jobs from home. I take up a few shifts a week to manage my studies, and I stay longer on my shift if I can and if I’m needed because sometimes there is a huge workload.
I’m going to keep doing the job for as long as I can unless I have a mental breakdown from the combined stress of my job, studies, and being stuck in lockdown. The pay is pretty good — for casually employed students, the base rate is around $30 an hour plus weekend loadings.
If I can convince anyone to get the vaccine, I want to. It’s definitely working and I would recommend everyone getting it as soon as they can. Follow the rules, and if you have to meet up with a friend because you’re going mental, please do it in a park instead of at someone’s home. Please don’t break the rules and put your family at risk.
I totally sympathize and emphasize with the comments made by this anonymous contact tracer. I thank this person for trying to enlighten the community to the need to follow a set of rules that has been put in place by our elected government, on the advice of medical professionals, with the aim of protecting us from the ravages of the SARS-Cov-2 virus.
I share the writer’s frustration at seeing people in public and reading about people who are not following the rules whether that entails wearing a mask, wearing the mask properly, socially distancing or having meetings which are not permitted because they dramatically increase the likelihood of disease transmission.
I want to thank this anonymous tracer for not only writing this article but for the tremendous job that they and others like them are doing to try to keep a largely selfish and ignorant community safe.
Even as a septuagenarian, I feel that this pandemic crisis has taught me a lesson about humanity in general. I have become even more cynical and misanthropic as a result of what I have seen and heard. The violent behavior of that crazed mob of Neanderthal thugs in Melbourne last Saturday was a classic example of just how irresponsible and reckless some people can be in the face of a full-scale medical emergency.
I would finish by again saying just how much I appreciate the work done by our anonymous contact tracer. Please look after yourself and manage your time so that you do not suffer any health problems yourself.
“I have become even more cynical and misanthropic as a result of what I have seen and heard.”
Amen to that brother. I also counsel myself that the vast majority are doing the right thing, are not complete buffoons, and actually give a toss about other people. I have to say that nothing has so disgusted me as those over 60s who wanted to wait around “for the better vaccine.” Way to go, oh entitled generation.
And how the young have shown them up by being willing to take the lesser vaccine. Of course it isn’t though, and after 3 and a half months the protection you are getting from AZ is superior to Pfizer, and probably Moderna too. The young folk have taken all the hits and are still lining up. They’re a good mob behind us, mostly.
Thankyou for telling us how it is as a contract tracer. Parts of your story brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks for publishing this piece; a genuine public service and I hope the large commercial media pick up on the theme. It does compensate somewhat for you allowing one of your owners to regale readers (read “waste our time and subscriptions”) with opinions on Covid despite his absence of any relevant qualifications. If I want to read what a travel agent and sometime IT tech thinks about the pandemic I can just go to Facebook. ♂️