Culture

This ‘Chaser’ Sketch About Contact Tracing Proves Gen-Z Should Run Everything

Move over COVIDSafe, we have the Contact Tracys now.

by Michelle Rennex  16 December 2020
the chasers contact tracing tracys

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While Australia’s handling of COVID-19 has been pretty good compared to the rest of the world (*cough* the US *cough*), our contact tracing has left a lot to be desired.

In particular, Victoria’s contact tracing system was overwhelmed when the major second wave hit, which sent Melbourne citizens into lockdown for weeks on end. But lucky for us, a sketch from The Chaser’s War on 2020 livestream has imagined what tracking systems would’ve been like if we enlisted the experts in all things social media stalking: Gen-Z.

Written by comedians, TV writers, and all-round legends, Bec Shaw and Nina Oyama, ‘Contact Tracys’ follows, well, two teenage girls — known as the Traceys — as they help some government “simps” with all their contact tracing needs.

Harnessing their “tracing” powers, which started back in Year 9 with a boy in a local Oporto (an Aussie rite of passage, really), the teens help the struggling Health Department officials by using the best tracking technology in the biz: Snapchat maps.

In the end, the Tracys end up getting the boys up to speed by asking them to “pretend [the people they’re tracing are] the guy who ghosted your best friend”, which seems to do the trick.

Along the way, the Tracys also help John realise he’s bisexual, get the men in the Health Department to start using astrology to help find the answers they need, and actually manage to bring the number of untraced COVID-19 cases down to 0.

Getting one final jab in before the sketch ends, the Tracy’s then tell the Health Department simps that they’ll accept the boys doing a TikTok with them because “old people, like, go off on the app” as payment. But they quickly take back that offer after noticing that the sarcasm didn’t quite translate.

Honestly, the whole thing is a work of art, and even Taika Waititi got a laugh out of it, sharing the clip to his million-plus followers.

The Contact Tracy’s have also very quickly become so well-loved online, that artist Samuel Leighton-Dore has even managed to draft some mock-up posters in support of Australia’s new unofficial COVID-19 safety ambassadors. Honestly, it’s the talent for me.

Anyway, Contract Tracys for prime minster next, I reckon.