WATCH: Boone County assistant health director says COVID-19 contact tracers overwhelmed

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The assistant director of the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services said Friday that health officials will request 32 full-time workers for contact tracing.

Scott Clardy appeared live on ABC 17 News at 5 to take questions after the department extended its current reopening order. A Columbia ordinance requiring face coverings in most situations also took effect Friday.

The county health director extended the order because contact tracers can't keep up with the surge of new cases in Boone County. Tracers track down people who have been in contact with COVID-19 patients.

The county has counted 125 new COVID-19 cases in the past three days as the five-day rolling average of new cases has reached a record of 34.6.

The money would come from the CARES Act, Clardy said, and has to be approved by the Boone County Commission.