Lessons Learned From Miami-Dade County's COVID-19 Epidemic: Making Surveillance Data Accessible for Policy Makers.

Autor: Williams R; University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (Dr Williams); Department of Biostatistics (Mr Williams and Drs Bursac and Odom), Research Center for Minority Institutions (Drs Bursac and Trepka), and Department of Epidemiology (Dr Trepka), Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida; and Department of Public Health Sciences, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, The University of Miami, Miami, Florida (Dr Odom)., Bursac Z, Trepka MJ, Odom GJ
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP [J Public Health Manag Pract] 2021 May-Jun 01; Vol. 27 (3), pp. 310-317.
DOI: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001364
Abstrakt: Introduction: COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge to policy makers as well as those entrusted with capturing, monitoring, and analyzing COVID-19 data. Effective public policy is data-informed policy. This requires a liaison between public health scientists and public officials.
Objective: This article details the experience, challenges, and lessons learned advising public officials in a large metropolitan area from March to October 2020.
Methods: To effectively do this, an R Markdown report was created to iteratively monitor the number of COVID-19 tests performed, positive tests obtained, COVID-19 hospitalization census, intensive care unit census, the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators, and the number of deaths due to COVID-19.
Results: These reports were presented and discussed at meetings with policy makers to further comprehension.
Discussion: To facilitate the fullest understanding by both the general public and policy makers alike, we advocate for greater centralization of public health surveillance data, objective operational definitions of metrics, and greater interagency communication to best guide and inform policy makers. Through consistent data reporting methods, parsimonious and consistent analytic methods, a clear line of communication with policy makers, transparency, and the ability to navigate unforeseen externalities such as "data dumps" and reporting delays, scientists can use information to best support policy makers in times of crises.
(Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)
Databáze: MEDLINE