The public health impact of COVID-19 variants of concern on the effectiveness of contact tracing in Vermont, United States.

Case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) are public health measures that aim to break the chain of pathogen transmission. Changes in viral characteristics of COVID-19 variants have likely affected the effectiveness of CICT programs. We estimated and compared the cases averted in Vermont when the original COVID-19 strain circulated (Nov.

Estimated public health impact of concurrent mask mandate and vaccinate-or-test requirement in Illinois, October to December 2021.

Background: Facing a surge of COVID-19 cases in late August 2021, the U.S. state of Illinois re-enacted its COVID-19 mask mandate for the general public and issued a requirement for workers in certain professions to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing.

Building a Simple Model to Assess the Impact of Case Investigation and Contact Tracing for Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Lessons From COVID-19.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a simple spreadsheet-based tool to help state and local public health officials assess the performance and impact of COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing in their jurisdiction.

Public Health Response to Multistate Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Associated with Prepackaged Chicken Salad, United States, 2018.

Quantifying the effect of public health actions on population health is essential when justifying sustained public health investment. Using modeling, we conservatively estimated that rapid response to a multistate foodborne outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium in the United States in 2018 potentially averted 94 reported cases and $633,181 in medical costs and productivity losses.

Change in unemployment by social vulnerability among United States counties with rapid increases in COVID-19 incidence-July 1-October 31, 2020.

Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate in the United States peaked at 14.8% in April 2020. We examined patterns in unemployment following this peak in counties with rapid increases in COVID-19 incidence.

Estimated COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations Averted by Case Investigation and Contact Tracing in the US.

Importance: Evidence of the impact of COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) programs is lacking, but policy makers need this evidence to assess the value of such programs.

Objective: To estimate COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations averted nationwide by US states' CICT programs.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This decision analytical model study used combined data from US CICT programs (eg, proportion of cases interviewed, contacts notified or monitored, and days to case and contact notification) with incidence data to model outcomes of CICT over a 60-day period (November 25, 2020, to January 23, 2021).

Strategies to Inform Allocation of Stockpiled Ventilators to Healthcare Facilities During a Pandemic.

During a severe pandemic, especially one causing respiratory illness, many people may require mechanical ventilation. Depending on the extent of the outbreak, there may be insufficient capacity to provide ventilator support to all of those in need. As part of a larger conceptual framework for determining need for and allocation of ventilators during a public health emergency, this article focuses on the strategies to assist state and local planners to allocate stockpiled ventilators to healthcare facilities during a pandemic, accounting for critical factors in facilities' ability to make use of additional ventilators.

Comparative economic analysis of strategies for Japanese encephalitis vaccination of U.S. travelers.

Background: Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus is the leading vaccine-preventable cause of encephalitis in Asia. For most travelers, JE risk is very low but varies based on several factors, including travel duration, location, and activities. To aid public health officials, health care providers, and travelers evaluate the worth of administering/ receiving pre-travel JE vaccinations, we estimated the numbers-needed-to-treat to prevent a case and the cost-effectiveness ratios of JE vaccination for U.

Determining the post-elimination level of vaccination needed to prevent re-establishment of dog rabies.

Background: Once a canine rabies-free status has been achieved, there is little guidance available on vaccination standards to maintain that status. In areas with risk of reintroduction, it may be practical to continue vaccinating portions of susceptible dogs to prevent re-establishment of canine rabies.

Methods: We used a modified version of RabiesEcon, a deterministic mathematical model, to evaluate the potential impacts and cost-effectiveness of preventing the reintroduction of canine rabies through proactive dog vaccination.

Forecasting the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak.

In 2014-2015, a large Ebola outbreak afflicted Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. We performed a systematic review of 26 manuscripts, published between 2014 and April 2015, that forecasted the West African Ebola outbreak while it was occurring, and we derived implications for how results could be interpreted by policymakers. Forecasted case counts varied widely.

The PanVax Tool to Improve Pandemic Influenza Emergency Vaccination Program Readiness and Partnership.

To show how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Pandemic Vaccine Campaign Planning Tool (PanVax Tool) can help state and local public health emergency planners demonstrate and quantify how partnerships with community vaccine providers can improve their overall pandemic vaccination program readiness. The PanVax Tool helps planners compare different strategies to vaccinate their jurisdiction's population in a severe pandemic by allowing users to customize the underlying model inputs in real time, including their jurisdiction's size, community vaccine provider types, and how they allocate vaccine to these providers. In this report, we used a case study with hypothetical data to illustrate how jurisdictions can utilize the PanVax Tool for preparedness planning.

Evaluation of the impact of shigellosis exclusion policies in childcare settings upon detection of a shigellosis outbreak.

Background: In the event of a shigellosis outbreak in a childcare setting, exclusion policies are typically applied to afflicted children to limit shigellosis transmission. However, there is scarce evidence of their impact.

Methods: We evaluated five exclusion policies: Children return to childcare after: i) two consecutive laboratory tests (either PCR or culture) do not detect Shigella, ii) a single negative laboratory test (PCR or culture) does not detect Shigella, iii) seven days after beginning antimicrobial treatment, iv) after being symptom-free for 24 h, or v) 14 days after symptom onset.

Estimating Weekly Call Volume to a National Nurse Telephone Triage Line in an Influenza Pandemic.

Telephone nurse triage lines, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Flu on Call, a national nurse triage line, may help reduce the surge in demand for health care during an influenza pandemic by triaging callers, providing advice about clinical care and information about the pandemic, and providing access to prescription antiviral medication. We developed a Call Volume Projection Tool to estimate national call volume to Flu on Call during an influenza pandemic. The tool incorporates 2 influenza clinical attack rates (20% and 30%), 4 different levels of pandemic severity, and different initial "seed numbers" of cases (10 or 100), and it allows variation in which week the nurse triage line opens.

Potential for broad-scale transmission of Ebola virus disease during the West Africa crisis: lessons for the Global Health security agenda.

Background: The 2014-2016 Ebola crisis in West Africa had approximately eight times as many reported deaths as the sum of all previous Ebola outbreaks. The outbreak magnitude and occurrence of multiple Ebola cases in at least seven countries beyond Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, hinted at the possibility of broad-scale transmission of Ebola.

Main Text: Using a modeling tool developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Ebola outbreak, we estimated the number of Ebola cases that might have occurred had the disease spread beyond the three countries in West Africa to cities in other countries at high risk for disease transmission (based on late 2014 air travel patterns).

Identifying and Prioritizing Information Needs and Research Priorities of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Practitioners.

Objective: This study describes findings from an assessment conducted to identify perceived knowledge gaps, information needs, and research priorities among state, territorial, and local public health preparedness directors and coordinators related to public health emergency preparedness and response (PHPR). The goal of the study was to gather information that would be useful for ensuring that future funding for research and evaluation targets areas most critical for advancing public health practice.

Methods: We implemented a mixed-methods approach to identify and prioritize PHPR research questions.

Modeling in Real Time During the Ebola Response.

To aid decision-making during CDC's response to the 2014-2016 Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic in West Africa, CDC activated a Modeling Task Force to generate estimates on various topics related to the response in West Africa and the risk for importation of cases into the United States. Analysis of eight Ebola response modeling projects conducted during August 2014-July 2015 provided insight into the types of questions addressed by modeling, the impact of the estimates generated, and the difficulties encountered during the modeling. This time frame was selected to cover the three phases of the West African epidemic curve.

Preparedness Perceptions, Sociodemographic Characteristics, and Level of Household Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2006-2010.

Our objective was to inform state and community interventions focused on increasing household preparedness by examining the association between self-reported possession of household disaster preparedness items (ie, a 3-day supply of food and water, a written evacuation plan, and a working radio and flashlight) and perceptions of household preparedness on a 3-point scale from "well prepared" to "not at all prepared." Data were analyzed from 14 states participating in a large state-based telephone survey: the 2006-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) (n = 104,654). Only 25.

Adoption of preventive behaviors in response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic: a multiethnic perspective.

Background: As public health leaders prepare for possible future influenza pandemics, the rapid spread of 2009 H1N1 influenza highlights the need to focus on measures the public can adopt to help slow disease transmission. Such measures may relate to hygiene (e.g.

An analysis of root cause identification and continuous quality improvement in public health H1N1 after-action reports.

Objective: To identify the extent to which the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program's (HSEEP) After Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) template was followed by public health entities and facilitated the identification of detailed corrective actions and continuous improvement.

Design: Data were drawn from the US H1N1 Public Health Emergency Response (PHER) federal grant awardees (n = 62). After action report/improvement plan text was examined to identify the presence of AAR/IP HSEEP elements and characterized as "minimally complete," "partially complete," or "complete.

Public health emergency preparedness: lessons learned about monitoring of interventions from the National Association of County and City Health Official's survey of nonpharmaceutical interventions for pandemic H1N1.

Objectives: We assessed local health departments' (LHDs') ability to provide data on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) for the mitigation of 2009 H1N1 influenza during the pandemic response.

Design: Local health departments voluntarily participated weekly in a National Association of County and City Health Officials Web-based survey designed to provide situational awareness to federal partners about NPI recommendations and implementation during the response and to provide insight into the epidemiologic context in which recommendations were made.

Setting: Local health departments during the fall 2009 H1N1 pandemic response.

Public response to the 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic: a polling study in five countries.

Background: Many important strategies to reduce the spread of pandemic influenza need public participation. To assess public receptivity to such strategies, we compared adoption of preventive behaviours in response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic among the public in five countries and examined whether certain non-pharmaceutical behaviours (such as handwashing) were deterrents to vaccination. We also assessed public support for related public health recommendations.

Practices of obstetrician-gynecologists regarding nonvaccine-related public health recommendations during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Objective: We examined practices of obstetrician-gynecologists regarding nonvaccine-related public health recommendations during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Study Design: From February to May 2010, a survey was sent to a random sample of members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists involved in obstetric care.

Results: Obstetrician-gynecologists varied in their adherence to 2009 H1N1 influenza public health recommendations.

Early experience conducting school-located vaccination programs for seasonal influenza.

Objectives: We determined program effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptance of school-located vaccination (SLV) clinics for seasonal influenza that took place before the 2008 universal influenza vaccination recommendations.

Methods: We surveyed program directors of 23 programs in the United States who conducted SLV clinics during the 2005 to 2006 and 2006 to 2007 influenza seasons.

Results: Of 391,423 children enrolled in schools with SLV clinics, 61,463 (15.