Duke Health Policy
Center Calls For A National COVID-19 Surveillance System
The Margolis Center
for Health Policy at Duke University, which includes two former
commissioners of the Food and Drug Administration, has joined the
ranks of other public health organizations in calling for a switch
from a mitigation to a containment strategy to control COVID-19 going
forward.
The Report
In a very
thought-through and detailed working paper, the Duke group “describes
the features and capabilities of a national surveillance system to
mitigate the current COVID-19 pandemic wave and to limit and suppress
future outbreaks.” It calls not only for case surveillance but also
for syndromic surveillance of spikes and falls in potential COVID-19
related symptoms.
The group recognizes
that at present, “not one of the 50 US states currently has
surveillance capabilities sufficient to enable case-based
interventions at the necessary scale.”
The report notes that
developing these capabilities in each state and region will enable the
U.S. to move beyond extreme and disruptive physical isolation
measures.
The Duke report calls
for creating the following capabilities. No time frame is given but it
suggests these capabilities will be required “as the incidence of
COVID-19 declines.”
Capabilities:
1) Test and Trace
Infrastructure: Capacity for Widespread Diagnostic Testing and Data
Sharing to Enable Rapid Case-Based Interventions
2) Syndromic
Surveillance: Integration of Test and Trace into an Enhanced National
Syndromic Surveillance System
3) Serologic Testing:
Capacity to Conduct Widespread Serologic Testing to Identify Reliable
Markers of Immunity
4) Rapid Response:
Capacity for Isolation, Contact Tracing, and Quarantine
To access the report,
visit:
https://bit.ly/2VkUhJ3
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