Notes From The Field
Contact usCOVID AMP Database and Modeling Tool: Assess How Well Your Pandemic Policies Have Worked
Aug 27, 2020
Kathryn Sohm and Rachel Staley Grant
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Needing to understand what policies are effective? Struggling with knowing how to flatten the curve in your community? The team behind COVID-Local.org launched a policy modeling tool and database of tens of thousands of COVID-19 response policies and plans enacted across the U.S. and countries around the world. COVID Analysis and Mapping of Policies (COVID AMP) is one of many tools released this year to help policy makers, local leaders, and the public learn more about the COVID-19 pandemic and how to keep their communities safe. What sets COVID AMP apart is that it illustrates the impact of policy decisions such as mask mandates and limits on public gatherings. The user-friendly tool shows what could have happened if these policies hadn’t been put in place and it can be used to project what will happen in the future with and without a host of pandemic-related policies in effect. read more
COVID-Local in Practice: Helping Montana’s Tribal Leaders Protect Their People
Aug 5, 2020
COVID-Local Team
As the COVID-19 pandemic was intensifying across the country in March, leaders of the Native American tribe Blackfeet Nation instituted a mandatory mask order and followed a slew of other health mandates to protect their people. It worked. They managed to keep COVID-19 out of their 3,000-square-mile reservation in northwest Montana. read more
Outbreak Activity Library: An online, interactive, user-friendly resource for effective outbreak response
Jul 31, 2020
Dr. Rebecca Katz and Dr. Ellie Graeden
The effective prevention, detection, response, and recovery from infectious disease outbreaks requires informed and coordinated action from a multitude of actors. Outbreaks are increasingly occurring in more complex environments, which, in turn, expands the number of stakeholders and types of activities required to control the spread of disease. This is particularly true when outbreaks cross international borders and impact multiple species. read more
From a “Box” to a Blog: Emergency Management Training Resources to Tackle COVID-19
Jul 27, 2020
Claire J. Standley & Jim Banaski
This story begins long before COVID-19, way back in 2014. Jim Banaski, then a public health emergency management specialist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had spent many years supporting partner countries in developing and operationalizing emergency operations centers, as part of a suite of activities to improve readiness and response to public health events. Claire Standley was serving as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, overseeing programs focused on infectious disease preparedness across countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
Having already worked together to support the implementation of an emergency operations center (EOC) in Jordan, Claire and Jim found themselves facing a new challenge. Colleagues from the Ministry of Health in Iraq had learned of the project in Jordan, and were interested in designing their own public health EOC; they asked Claire and Jim for help. read more
COVID-19 Actions and Initiatives of the City of Palermo
Jul 24, 2020
Mayor Leoluca Orlando, Mayor of Palermo (Sicily, Italy),
The Global Parliament of Mayors initiated the Corona Crisis: Mayors Act Now Campaign to keep mayors informed and connected during the biggest global challenge of the 21st century. As a part of this campaign, the GPM has been collecting local initiatives from Mayors around the world to share expertise across continents and beyond borders. From Amsterdam to Zamboanga, through Lisbon, Freetown and Taipei mayors have shared important initiatives in their cities with their colleagues around the globe. read more
COVIDAMP.ORG: A Global Resource for Governance in the Time of COVID
Jul 16, 2020
Dr. Rebecca Katz and Dr. Ellie Graeden
Countries, states, and local governments have been implementing policies since January 2020 to try to reduce the spread and impact of COVID19 in their communities. Decision makers have been and continue working to find the appropriate policy measures to implement in their community as conditions change, but need access to a user-friendly, current, integrated source of information to define their policy options as the event progresses, assess how effective those policy decisions have been, and evaluate next steps for managing the pandemic. read more
COVID-Local team joins organizations and public health experts in effort to bring clarity to key metrics guiding coronavirus response
Jul 1, 2020
Rachel Staley Grant and Jessica Bell
The COVID-Local team has joined Harvard Global Health Institute, Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Rockefeller Foundation, CovidActNow, CIDRAP and other leading public health experts in an effort to offer a unified framework of clear metrics for decision making, definitions, and guidance for local leaders working to suppress the COVID-19 outbreak in their communities. read more
How Do Reopening Metrics Measure Up? Comparing the Proposed Reopening Metrics from the COVID Act Now and the COVID-Local Initiatives
Jun 18, 2020
Matt Boyce
The rapid and global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, galvanized the creation of multidisciplinary teams and initiatives around the world that sought to support response efforts. Now, as decision-makers grapple with difficult and impactful decisions regarding when and how to reopen, these initiatives are evolving to help with these decisions. Two such initiatives are COVID Act Now (CAN) and COVID-Local. read more
COVID-Local Experts Discuss Pandemic Challenges and COVID-Local Resources with State, Tribal, and Community Leaders in Montana
Jun 18, 2020
Rachel Staley Grant and Jessica Bell
Experts from the COVID-Local project team—Beth Cameron, Jeremy Konyndyk, Rebecca Katz, Ellie Graeden, and Jessica Bell—participated in a June 11 discussion with state, tribal, and community leaders in Montana about the COVID-19 outbreak and response in their state, and how COVID-Local.org resources can help local decision-makers navigate decisions during this pandemic. The call included more than 30 participants, including leaders from six tribes, state government representatives, public health officials, and community service members. The discussion was moderated by Cora Neumann, Montana resident and founder of We Are Montana and the Global First Ladies Alliance, and conducted with support from Western Native Voice. read more
COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter Protests: Local Government Responses Restrict Rights, Increase Risk
Jun 18, 2020
Madison Alvarez
The national Black Lives Matter protests that erupted following the murder of George Floyd call for a re-imagining of the role and powers of policing and the disproportionate impact police violence has on Black and Brown communities. Importantly, they forthrightly identify racism as a public health crisis. While the Black Lives Matter protests play an essential role in calling attention to vital health needs in the United States and globally, the current COVID-19 pandemic puts the health of protesters and their communities at significant risk. In response to these demonstrations, many governments have enacted new policies that have reduced individual, local, and state capacity to implement measures to address risk of increased COVID-19 transmission. read more
Episode 01 | Using Data Analytics in Outbreaks - Front and Center: The COVID EOC Podcast
Jun 1, 2020
Dr. Jason Moats and Dr. Ellie Graeden
Jason sits down with Dr. Ellie Graeden of Talus Analytics to discuss data analytics and how it can be used to guide efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak. read more
Episode 0 | Introduction – Front and Center: The COVID EOC Podcast
May 28, 2020
Dr. Jason Moats, Dr. Rebecca Katz, Jeremy Konyndyk, and Tim Manning
Jason, Rebecca, Jeremy, and Tim offer thoughts on current outbreak, highlighting how emergency operations centers are a critical part of an effective response effort. Then the group discusses what is next to come on the podcast, including COVID-local.org and the importance of helping each other solve this crisis. read more
Inside the Global Parliament of Mayors' #MayorsActNow Campaign
Apr 22, 2020
Baharan Andishmand and Pietro d’Arcano
The Global Parliament of Mayors initiated the Corona Crisis: Mayors Act Now Campaign to keep mayors informed and connected during the biggest global challenge of the 21st century, but pandemic preparedness is no new priority for the GPM. In 2018, mayors supported the GPM Bristol Declaration, which was established with the great support from the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science & Security. Mayors committed to prioritize pandemic preparedness as a key component of urban health planning, collaborate with researchers and consultants to generate valid data to implement practical initiatives to improve urban health planning and pandemic preparedness. Finally, the GPM urged for an intra-city mechanism to efficiently share information and experiences to facilitate emergency responses. read more
Launching COVID-Local "Notes from the Field" Blog
Mar 31, 2020
COVID-Local Team
Successful response the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States will require urgent and decisive action by state, local, and community leaders across the country. The, COVID-19 Frontline Guide was developed by top global health security leaders to support effective decision-making for local governments to better protect their communities.
To help support this response, we have also launched a companion blog featuring two types of posts:
“Notes from the Field” contributed by local government officials offering first-hand experience of dealing with the outbreak;
“Reports from Experts” contributed by public health researchers on the implications of emerging research. read more
COVID-19 Frontline Guide -- Webinar Launch
Mar 31, 2020
COVID-Local Team
On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, the Nuclear Threat Initiative hosted a webinar highlighting the launch of the COVID-19 Frontline Guide for Local Decision-Makers, a product of NTI I bio, Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, and the Center for Global Development. read more
