NEW YORK - More than 1,000 New Yorkers are undergoing the onboarding process to officially become contact tracers by the end of the month.

Those workers will investigate cases of COVID-19, then trace and monitor anyone the person has come into contact with. Once those people are tracked down, they will be tested as well.

Dr. Ted Long, who's running the contact tracer program for the city, says his team is in touch with hundreds of community-based organizations to find those who would be the most effective tracers. Long is also the vice president of ambulatory care at New York City Health and Hospitals. 

"Your test is positive, somebody is going to call you, explain what coronavirus is — this is the tracer — explain what it means and ask you some questions to identify the contacts you may have been in touch with; intimate partners, people that you’ve been within six feet of for more than 10 minutes, or people that you live with,” said Long.

“We then are going to take those people and reach out to them, which is again why contact tracers being from our communities to identify and then find those people, is key,” he continued.

The city will provide resources to those who test positive, including those that need a place to quarantine.

The program is expected to be up and running by June 1.