Former FDA leaders propose national surveillance system to contain future COVID-19 outbreaks

Former FDA commissioners Scott Gottlieb, MD, and Mark McClellan, MD, round out a team of public health experts that developed a plan for a national surveillance and data transmission system for coronavirus.

The National COVID-19 Surveillance System report, issued by the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, aims to invoke a rapid, effective response to further contain the spread of the coronavirus. Dr. McClellan and Dr. Gottlieb, along with their other co-authors, outlined their strategy: the U.S. needs to increase its testing capacity and state public health departments need stronger tech infrastructure to transmit COVID-19 data.

The surveillance system calls for providing public health officials with various digital tools, including real-time translation services and electronic reporting of tests and cases.

Here are five things to know about the proposed public health surveillance systems: 

1. States must have not only the capacity to widespread diagnostic testing for everyone with COVID-19 symptoms but also the ability to share data to enact social distancing interventions and avoid outbreak of new cases.

2. States will input results of regional virus testing and tracing into a national surveillance system to monitor peaks and decreases in COVID-19-related symptoms.

3. Each region of the state must track exposure and immunity to COVID-19 by implementing widespread blood testing.

4. The public health workforce must be expanded and have access to digital reporting tools to perform contact tracing and quarantine of new COVID-19 cases as well as treating patients at home and/or in hospitals.

5. The authors said that states should build on their existing public health and surveillance systems and strive for electronically based tracking.

Click here to view the full report.

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