ALBANY - New York will work with neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut to implement a contact tracing program to control the infection rate of coronavirus.

The goal is to work among the states to randomly test residents in the tri-state area and determine if they have the virus and whom they may have exposed, a step further than testing only those who show symptoms.

The effort picked up the support of former New York City Michael Bloomberg and his Bloomberg Philanthropies, which will contribute $10.5 million to the program and help organize with The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

"We're all eager to begin loosening restrictions on our daily lives and our economy," Bloomberg said in a statement.

"But in order to do that as safely as possible, we first have to put in place systems to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus and support them as they isolate."

Cuomo billed the effort as the largest contact tracing program in the nation as New York still struggles with the most deaths and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.

The total number of deaths in New York due to the coronavirus reached 15,302 on Wednesday, and the number of positive cases exceeded 257,000, although the rate of increase has slowed in recent days.

"The numbers indicate we are past the apex of this pandemic, and while we start our work to re-open our economy we must ensure we are doing it in a way that does no harm and does not undo all of the work and sacrifice it has taken to get here," Cuomo said.

More:Coronavirus in New York: Check our interactive map of cases and deaths by county

How contact tracing will work in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut?

Johns Hopkins University will develop an online curriculum and training program for contact tracers, and New York will tap into 35,000 students in medical fields at SUNY and CUNY who can serve as tracers.

Cuomo said large-scale contact tracing is critical as the tri-state area looks to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases.

Through contact tracing, experts can help track the virus' spread through testing to confirm if someone has COVID-19.

Then the tracers will interview that person to identify people they may have been in contact with, talk to those people, refer contacts to medical providers, and ask non-ill people to stay home for 14 days.

More:Coronavirus in New York: What a slow reopening of businesses might look like

The state said there was no immediate number of how many people they plan to test. On Tuesday, Cuomo and President Donald Trump said their joint goal is to increase New York's testing capacity to 40,000 a day from the current 20,000.

"Contact tracing is a proven public health tool which can profoundly help 'box in' the virus," Cuomo's office said in a news release.

"Several countries, such as Germany, Singapore and South Korea, have used contact tracing effectively amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, those countries have been able to re-open for business quicker and have experienced fewer deaths and lower rates of infection."

The announcement from Cuomo and Bloomberg came as New York City said it would set up sites across the five boroughs to collect specimens and test them for coronavirus.

“To defeat this virus, we need to test and trace every last case,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

“That’s why we are drastically expanding our testing capacity and exercising every last option to get the quantity of testing we need.”.

More:Coronavirus in New York: Check our interactive map of cases and deaths by county

Joseph Spector is the New York state editor for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at JSPECTOR@Gannett.com or followed on Twitter: @GannettAlbany

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