Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) announced Friday the state government is establishing a COVID-19 community tracing collaborative with a nonprofit that will begin operating at the end of the month.

Baker said the effort will be a “targeted” approach as the state seeks to blunt the effects of the coronavirus, which has already infected more than 10,000 people in Massachusetts and killed nearly 200 in the state.

"There is tracing happening now, but this program that we're talking about launching today is a much more robust, targeted approach that we hope can be highly effective at slowing the spread of this highly infectious disease," Baker said at a news conference. "It’s going to be a big part of our ongoing effort to manage and fight our way through COVID-19."

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Baker said Massachusetts is the first state in the country to create such a tracking program, which will be staffed by roughly 1,000 people who will contact patients to check on their recent activities and confirm they have not spread the highly infectious illness.

“The call center will get contact information for as many people as possible that they have come in contact with and potentially exposed,” Baker said. “People will be contacted and informed so that they can stay healthy, isolate when appropriate and prevent further spread.”

Partners In Health, the Boston-based nonprofit that is teaming up with the state government, has done public health interventions during previous crises such as Ebola and will oversee hiring, training and supervision for the virtual call center.

Joia Mukherjee, the group’s chief medical officer, said the effort will help people “isolate themselves” if they appear at risk and will reach out to people who may have contracted the virus but appear asymptomatic.

“We believe that people want to know if they have been in contact with this disease,” she said.