Responding to the Pandemic: Challenges With Public Health Surveillance Systems and Development of a COVID-19 National Surveillance Case Definition to Support Case-Based Morbidity Surveillance During the Early Response
J Public Health Manag Pract. 2021 Jan/Feb:27 Suppl 1, COVID-19 and Public Health: Looking Back, Moving Forward:S80-S86.
doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001299.
Affiliation
- 1 Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia (Mss Hamilton and Lichtenstein Cone); and Bureau of Communicable Disease Prevention, Division of Public Health, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Boise, Idaho (Dr Turner).
Abstract
Responding to introductions of diseases and conditions of unknown etiology is a critical public health function. In late December 2019, investigation of a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin in Wuhan, China, resulted in the identification of a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Multiple public health surveillance actions were rapidly implemented to detect introduction of the virus into the United States and track its spread including establishment of a national surveillance case definition and addition of the disease, coronavirus disease 2019, to the list of nationally notifiable conditions. Challenges in conducting effective case-based surveillance and the public health data supply chain and infrastructure are discussed.
MeSH terms
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COVID-19 / epidemiology
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COVID-19 / prevention & control*
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Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control*
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Disease Outbreaks / statistics & numerical data
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Guidelines as Topic*
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Humans
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Morbidity*
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Pandemics / prevention & control*
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Pandemics / statistics & numerical data
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Public Health Surveillance*
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SARS-CoV-2
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United States / epidemiology
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United States Public Health Service / standards*
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United States Public Health Service / statistics & numerical data