Community-Based Outbreak Investigation And Response: Enhancing Preparedness, Public Health Capacity, And Equity.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the US has struggled with many aspects of the public health response, from determining where transmission is occurring to building trust with communities and implementing interventions. Three factors have contributed to these challenges: insufficient local public health capacity, siloed interventions, and underuse of a cluster-based approach to outbreak response. In this article we introduce Community-based Outbreak Investigation and Response (COIR), a local public health strategy developed during the COVID-19 pandemic that addresses these shortcomings.