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Population Health

Precision Public Health as a Key Tool in the COVID-19 Response

Educational Objective
To understand the key role precision public health is playing in the COVID-19 response

1 Credit CME

JAMA

Published Online: August 12, 2020

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Article Information and Disclosures

Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, MS¹;

Muin J. Khoury, MD, PhD²;

Carlos del Rio, MD³

Author Affiliations

¹Departments of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Epidemiology, University of Florida College of Medicine and College of Public Health and Health Professions, Gainesville
²Office of Genomics and Precision Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
³Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia

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With more than 20 million cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) globally and now exceeding 5 million cases in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the greatest public health challenges in more than a century. To succeed against COVID-19, multiple public health tools and interventions will be needed to minimize morbidity and mortality related to COVID-19. Although extreme public health interventions, for example, lockdowns and stay-at-home mandates, were initially critical to flattening the curve, many fundamental questions remain, such as when can employees deemed nonessential return to work, how can children safely return to school, and who should be first to receive a vaccine once it becomes available. Information about who is at highest risk of hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, and death based on age, sex, race/ethnicity, and underlying conditions is now becoming available.¹ In addition, the relationship between neighborhood factors (eg, increased neighborhood household crowding rate) and risks for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and COVID-19 disease outcomes are now recognized.²

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Article Information

Corresponding Author: Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, MS, University of Florida, 1600 SW Archer Rd, PO Box 100296, Gainesville, FL 32610 (sonja.rasmussen@peds.ufl.edu).

Published Online: August 12, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.14992

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr del Rio reported receiving grants from the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

References

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AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 credit toward the CME [and Self-Assessment requirements] of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.