COVID-19:
Views from our Fellows
on Healthcare
Intergovernmental Dimensions of the COVID-19 Responses and Consequences
April 11, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine federalism in action. With the goal of better understanding the strengths and vulnerabilities of the U.S. intergovernmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Academy of Public Administration convened the COVID-19 Working Group on the Intergovernmental Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Spring of 2021. The Working Group assessed those intergovernmental responses to identify key issues and develop actionable recommendations in four areas that may facilitate the nation’s response to this pandemic and future pandemics: testing for COVID-19; non-pharmaceutical interventions for infection risk reduction, vaccine distribution, and cross-cutting and over-arching issues. Overall, the Working Group’s report offers independent perspectives on how well the intergovernmental public health and human service systems and our decentralized and distributed governance structure protected and provided for the general welfare of the populace. From this examination, the members of the Working Group provide 37 recommendations that provide a starting point for evaluating the response to a major public health crisis and for improving responses to future pandemics.
Protecting Public Health and the Economy: A Platform for Data Driven Decisions
November 24, 2020
By The MITRE Corporation
State and local leaders are faced with challenging decisions on how best to mitigate
the spread of COVID-19 and protect their communities while minimizing economic
consequences, often without having complete information available to inform their decisions. To take some of the guesswork out of their actions, public health officials and government decision-makers often turn to data and predictive analytics, including modeling and simulation. At MITRE, we deliver these capabilities through multiple specialized platforms that boost decision makers’ ability to understand and respond to pandemics. The MITRE Pandemic Analysis & Response Platform gives leaders access to data, models, and decision tools that help evaluate their options and understand the most effective and efficient levers at their disposal.
We have developed, and are continuing to evolve, analytic tools, observational research, and predictive models to 1) Answer fundamental questions related to COVID-19 transmission and clinical illness and 2) Conduct localized and focus analyses on what factors and behaviors contribute to disease transmission and how to preserve economic productivity.
The Rapidly Expanding Mission of the Strategic National Stockpile
April 18, 2020
We've all heard the harrowing, heart-wrenching accounts of brave doctors and nurses short on critical supplies treating COVID-19 patients at overcrowded hospitals. To many, it is inconceivable how a country with the resources of the United States has found itself scrambling to obtain and manufacture masks, ventilators and other life-saving personal protective equipment and supplies in real-time.
Much attention has been focused on the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), which has received more press coverage in the last two weeks than since its creation in 1999. Ideally, this scrutiny will lead to more robust funding and support for this national asset. Unfortunately, it also may undermine this highly capable organization, potentially compromising its mission.
Though relatively unknown to the general public before March, the question of why the SNS was allegedly ill-equipped to do its job is now burning in the minds of many. But even the framing of this question reflects a blatant misunderstanding of the Strategic National Stockpile.
Interview: Responding to a Pandemic Crisis
April 09, 2020
In this episode of the Follow the Data podcast series highlighting Bloomberg Philanthropies’ COVID-19 response, Jessica Leighton, who works on our Public Health program spoke to Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the vice dean for public health practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
They discuss how COVID-19 is different from other recent outbreaks, the four phases of crisis response for public health disasters, and how the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is tackling the coronavirus from every angle.