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NEW: COVID-19 Frontline Guide for Local Decision-Makers
WASHINGTON, DC —Successful
suppression of COVID-19 in the United States will require urgent and decisive action
by state, local, and community leaders across the country. To support effective decision-making, top
global health security leaders have released a COVID-19
Frontline Guide. Developed in response to calls from local
governments for more information on how to protect their communities, the online
tool features eight indicators of progress for
self-assessment
and seven key actions that each include checklists of decision points.
The guide provides a
framework to help local leaders establish effective strategies to fight the
outbreak, both by reducing transmission of the disease and by supporting their communities
effectively.
The website and guide were discussed with the authors during an
online webinar on Tuesday, March 31.
The contents of the COVID-19
Frontline Guide are grounded in existing guidance from U.S. and global
authorities, public health research findings, and lessons observed from
countries that have been battling COVID-19 since January 2020. It is intended
to complement, but not supplant, guidance from global, federal, and local
public health and other authorities.
The guide, available at COVID-Local.org, is being developed
through an iterative process and will be further refined and developed as local
leaders share their feedback and experience.
The Frontline Guide is a joint project of the Global
Biological Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the Center
for Global Development, and the Georgetown University Center for Global Health
Science and Security, in collaboration with Talus Analytics.
“Even in prepared cities like Seattle, health systems are
struggling to test patients and keep pace with growing caseloads. The specter
of rapid community transmission and exponential growth is real and daunting,”
said NTI Vice President Dr. Beth Cameron.
Key Actions
The COVID-19 Frontline
Guide highlights seven key actions, representing the proven
points of action required by leaders and compiled by experts across the
emergency response, health care, public health and health security fields. Each
action includes a checklist of decision points:
- Activate an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and establish a whole-of-community incident management structure
- Understand the real-time
spread of COVID-19 in the community - Slow and reduce
transmission - Focus protection on
high-risk groups - Reinforce and expand
health system surge capacity to sustain healthcare operations and avoid high
mortality - Expand risk communication
and community engagement - Mitigate economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic
Visit www.COVID-Local.org to explore the Frontline Guide for local
decision-makers, download the site content, view situation updates on the
COVID-19 response capacities, and more.
About NTI
NTI is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear
and biological threats imperiling humanity. Learn more at www.nti.org or @NTI_WMD on Twitter.
About the Center for Global Development
The Center
for Global Development is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization
that works to reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative
economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world’s top
decision makers. Learn more at www.cgdev.org or @CGDev on Twitter.
About the Georgetown University Center for Global
Health Science and Security
The Center
for Global Health Science and Security (GHSS) at Georgetown University is an
academic research center that develops evidence for action, providing decision
makers with the tools they need for sustainable capacity building to prevent,
detect and respond to public health emergencies. Learn more at ghss.georgetown.edu or at @Georgetown_GHSS on Twitter.
CONTACTS:
Cathy Gwin
(NTI), 202-270-5942, [email protected]
Sean
Bartlett (CDG) 202-821-2947, [email protected]
Karen Teber
(Georgetown), 215-514-9751, [email protected]
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