Alberta put its contact-tracing system on life support. Can it be resuscitated?

Charlotte says when she started work as a contact tracer in 2020, she was excited. 

She was eager to help with the pandemic effort and she felt by investigating COVID-19 cases she could make a difference — identifying and tracking the spread of the virus, while supporting those who tested positive.

A second contact tracer, Linda, called the early work fulfilling.

“It was busy, but, you know, we really felt like we were playing a vital role,” she said. 

“At the beginning, it was a decent work environment. We had support, we had the numbers, we had the organization,” Charlotte said.