What is the job of a contact tracer?

I was reading my state’s Covid-19 recovery plan and was curious about the contact tracing part. Specifically, the job of contact tracing, so I looked up the job posting:

Are you a self-motivated, people person looking to make meaningful contributions through work that impacts the nation? NORC is hiring interviewers to serve as Contact Tracers for the Maryland COVID Link initiative. These Contact Tracers will play a key role in the state’s effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This opportunity will allow interviewers to contribute to the fight against the disease while working from home as part of the Contact Tracing Call Team.

I’ve always been interested in how “things” (organizations, tools, industries, processes) work. I suppose that is why I dig my job so much. Curiosity aside, this “thing” may save our collective asses in the coming months.