Maryland to beef up contact tracing operation. Make sure you answer your phone.

Marylanders might soon receive phone calls from “MD COVID," and though it may be tempting to let it ring, the state’s reopening and recovery could depend on enough people answering.

The state has hired about 1,400 contact tracers tasked with tracking down those who have been exposed to the coronavirus as part of its plan to move the state toward a safe and complete reopening.

Gov. Larry Hogan has said, for weeks, that the state must deploy thousands of contact tracers to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has infected over 43,000 residents and killed more than 2,000 in Maryland. The contagious upper respiratory disease has wreaked havoc across the world, sickening millions and slowing the global economy.

In an attempt to move Maryland’s progress forward, the state has increased its contact tracing operation more than fivefold, according to a Thursday news release, though it was not immediately clear how many employees would work for the state and how many would carry out their duties from within local health departments.

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