In order to deal with the challenge presented by the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the local government of the Austrian city of Linz has announced that it will be substantially bolstering the ranks of its contact tracing team.
Cases are on the rise across not only Austria but the entirety of Europe and contact tracing has proven essential for any administration that hopes to keep the disease under control. Thus, the decision taken by authorities in the capital of Upper Austria fits perfectly well into their vision of protecting and safeguarding the local population.
A great boost to the benefit of citizens
Announced earlier last week, the Linz contact tracing team will be opening 21 new vacancies, boosting the total number of contact tracers to 60. In order to be able to fill the positions with competent employees as quickly as possible, in addition to internal candidates and applicants from public tenders, retired employees of the city administration are also specifically invited to apply. Retired employees are perhaps the most perfect fit for the job, according to officials, as they are well aware of the administrative structure of Linz, they know the administrative processes and are already in tune with the city and its citizens.
Explaining the need for increasing the number of contact tracers at hand and the city of Linz’s responsibility to its citizens, Mayor Klaus Luger stated that “As the third-largest metropolitan area in Austria, the city of Linz cannot accept any compromises when it comes to identifying contact persons. In the past few weeks, up to 90 percent of new infections could be traced back to one source and clusters could be identified quickly. Our health authority is doing a great job, as the immediate delimitation of the cluster in the Kleinmünchen senior center shows, which was classified as stable after just a few days. An increase in staff in this key area is therefore only consequently and absolutely necessary due to the increasing number of infections.”
Source: TheMayor.EU
