The Oregon Health Authority has awarded a million dollars to expand a COVID-19 response and containment program created at the University of Oregon.
It began as Corona Corps, a group of motivated students recruited early in the pandemic and trained to help Lane County Public Health with contact tracing efforts. The initial 16 students have since grown to 200.
Jeff Measelle, a UO psychology professor and Co-Director of the Corona Corps, sees this as a workforce pipeline to help produce the next generation of public health professionals.
“This large and growing group of students will graduate, not just with a strong and diverse educational background,” he said, “but also with real life experiences helping to manage one of the most serious public health challenges that we’ve seen in over a century.”
Measelle said the program now assists with a wide range of COVID-19 challenges—including vaccine hesitancy and case investigation.
“We’re calling close contacts, we’re letting them know they’ve been exposed and will need to quarantine,” he explained. “So, as you can imagine, rarely is the response to these calls something like, ‘Oh boy, great. That’s news I really wanted.’ Some people respond with fear, some with sadness, others with anger. And in all instances, our team works hard to validate those feelings.”
With OHA funding, the program is being renamed the Oregon Public Health Corps. Measelle says they hope to make it a permanent resource in the state.
The program has served Lane County, the U of O community and the state’s health authority and has addressed a range of challenges associated with COVID-19, including the emotional and practical difficulties associated with isolation and quarantining, and, more recently, vaccine hesitancy.
Partners to the effort include global studies professor Dennis Galvan, dean and vice provost of the Division of Global Engagement; Lori O'Hollaren, assistant vice provost of the division; Josh Snodgrass, a professor in the Department of Anthropology; and Elly Vandegrift, program director for Global Science Education Initiatives.
