(Fort Worth, TX)  —  Tarrant County is paying North Texas college students to help with coronavirus contact tracing.

The county’s Public Health Department has put 90 students from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth on the payroll.

County commissioners allocated nearly two-million-dollars from the federal CARES Act to fund the program.  TCPH will reimburse HSC for the program expenses. 

The contact tracing work is expected to begin Sept. 1, Drew said. Students will train and participate in an orientation before they begin contact tracing. Students will work through Dec. 30, when the contract ends. 

The partnership will help students obtain hands-on training in a public health emergency.