Meet Jean Perry: Covid-19 Case Investigator

Jean Perry, MPH ‘20, works for the state of Georgia as a Covid-19 Case Investigator at the Coastal Health District office in Savannah—the location where she previously completed an internship for her academic program. As a Case Investigator, Perry speaks with people who test positive for Covid-19 to gather more information (such as symptoms, preexisting conditions, and activity) and to obtain close contacts to share with contact tracers for follow up.

How did you end up interning (and then ultimately working) in Savannah?

“I am from Upstate New York (the Saratoga region). However, my husband is in the army so around internship time I knew I would end up in Savannah and wanted some work experience in the area. I reached out to and interned with the Director of Chronic Disease Prevention and had a wonderful experience and gained a great lifelong mentor.”

What is it like working as a Case Investigator for Covid-19?

“Covid work is an open-heart job, to say the least. Our work is important not only for data collection so we can continue to learn about how the virus is affecting people but also so that we can help answer questions, guide people to resources and provide guidance to prevent others from being exposed. It can be tough some days when the people we connect with in the community are quite ill and we learn about their families and the unfortunate reality of how much stress this can put on loved ones, but we collectively can provide some information and guidance to resources to make things a little easier for them. It’s been quite a year since graduating from the School of Public Health. I did not envision a pandemic and working on pandemic response when I started out in the MPH program. But what I did hope for when I started was that I’d be able to help people and I am very grateful that despite how devastating this has been for so many, I have been able to be a part of a team that gives back to my community and have been a small part of getting through this.”

How do you contact individuals as a Case Investigator?

“Our list consists of everyone who tests positive for Covid-19 within our health district. Anytime one of our residents tests positive, it is reported to us and we follow up for case investigation and contact tracing via phone.”

What is the most challenging part of your position?

“I think the most challenging part is wanting to be able to help more - I am a fixer and helper by nature which is what drew me into public health. I—like many— wish I could fix the world and go back to "normal". I am glad I can contribute through my work on Covid-19 response and am grateful to be able to help in this capacity.”

Where do you hope your public health career will take you?

“I was originally interested in chronic disease prevention. However, working on Covid-19 and seeing the amazing health messaging and health promotion campaigns, how creative they are and unique to populations, I would really like to get into health communications and do health promotion work in that subset of public health.”