Gov. Baker: ‘Please do not ignore contact tracer calls’

BOSTON — The state is putting out the plea to not ignore contact tracer calls.

A public service announcement was created to educate the public on how it all works and why the information is so critical to stop the spread of the virus. The contact tracers will be calling people who tested positive for COVID-19 and people who could have been exposed to someone who tested positive.

The calls will be coming from two area codes only - 833 or 857. The caller ID will read MA COVID Team.

“The way I would frame it to people is that it’s worth it to work with us to find 14 days to isolate yourself if you get one of these calls to not put some family member or some friend or some neighbor in a terrible spot with respect to their own health status,” said Governor Baker.

About 1,000 contact tracers have been making about 10,000 calls per day.

“The only information we will ask for is name and a phone number," said John Welch, the director of partnerships & operations for the state’s COVID-19 response at Partners In Health. “No one who calls you will ever ask for a social security number, they should never ask for health insurance information anything like. Name and contact information only.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of the director of partnerships & operations for the state’s COVID-19 response at Partners In Health. He is John Welch, not Jeff Welch.

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RESOURCES:

- Massachusetts Coronavirus Information

- Boston Coronavirus Information

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