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Pandemic Data Initiative

Building modern data management systems for local, state, federal, and global public health agencies is critical to preparing the nation and the world for the next major public health crisis. The Pandemic Data Initiative explores the lessons learned throughout the pandemic for how best to support government efforts to collect and deliver comprehensive real-time information to the public, policy makers, and the media.

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Pandemic Data Outlook

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Pandemic Data Outlook

Better Data for Better Governance Is Well Within Our Grasp

After a year of reporting, we have accomplished a lot, but there is still much work to be done. None of this would have been possible without our incredible team.

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Expert Insight

Q&A: Pandemic Data Initiative Provided Unforeseen Insights

Johns Hopkins launched the Pandemic Data Initiative as part of the Coronavirus Resource Center to amplify expert insight into the vital use of data in public health policy and COVID-19 response.

Pandemic Data Outlook

Quantifying Community Resilience to Equip Local Government

Measuring community resilience will be an important metric as the nation emerges from the pandemic and prepares for the next crisis. Johns Hopkins COPEWELL helps quantify resilience to better inform local leaders.

Expert Insight

Q&A: Public Health Preparedness: Moving On Without Moving Backward

With fewer people seeking COVID-19 testing, the utility of test and case data is decreasing. Moving forward, we need to develop a clear plan for ongoing disease surveillance that will provide the necessary data for effective public health preparedness.

Pandemic Data Outlook

Universal Healthcare for Unified Data

While all nations have struggled to combat the spread of COVID-19, those with universal healthcare systems held an advantage over the United States. Universal systems allow data to be standardized, centralized, and complete for every patient, which improves care and can better inform public health strategies.

Expert Insight

Q&A: Improving Patient Care Through Dynamic Modeling of Patient Data

A healthcare system’s moral duty is to learn from its patients to improve future care. Models developed from patient data are now used to inform care and reduce medical costs by preventing unnecessary procedures.

Pandemic Data Outlook

If All Data Are Health Data, They Should Be Protected as Such

Policies protecting medical data privacy are well-established and sacrosanct to healthcare providers. But there are few, if any, policies surrounding the mining and selling of other personal data, which often contains health information. This must change.

Expert Insight

Q&A: Integrated Data Systems Needed for More Actionable Policy Proposals

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped economists and epidemiologists understand they need each other’s expertise to improve their models and the policy proposals they generate. Data from new technologies and disparate sources could result in more actionable policy recommendations that address the cross-divisional causes of issues such as health disparities.

Pandemic Data Outlook

Long-term COVID-19 Data Surveillance Is an International Responsibility

Many countries have benefitted from access to others’ COVID-19 data to identify risks ahead of time and adequately prepare their systems. This cross-border collaboration cannot end once COVID-19 becomes endemic. We must remain vigilant and continue collecting and analyzing data together.

Expert Insight

Q&A: Data Concerns Magnified in Virtual Telemedicine Environment

Telemedicine has been an incredible tool to increase access to healthcare in a safe, remote manner during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, data show it is still susceptible to the effects of health disparities. This must be addressed if telemedicine is to become a permanent fixture of our healthcare system.

Pandemic Data Outlook

Endemic Disease Surveillance Requires Quality Testing and Hospitalization Data

With testing and case data rapidly depreciating in quality, experts are relying more on hospitalization data as a warning sign for COVID-19 outbreaks. A reliable disease surveillance system in the future will need both hospitalization data and testing data to function.



QUESTIONS ABOUT DATA STANDARDS

What is the Pandemic Data Initiative?What has been the biggest challenge during the pandemic for effectively using data?What are the consequences of such a hodgepodge data management effort?How have issues of inconsistent data impacted vaccination rollouts?
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