Producing Real-Time, City Scale COVID-19 Data to Support Epidemic Response in the City of Stamford, CT
Full Title: Producing Real-Time, City Scale COVID-19 Data to Support Epidemic Response in the City of Stamford, CT: Lessons from an Academic-Health Department Partnership
Video
Team Information
Team Members
Andrew Rundle, Professor, Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
Abhinav Suri, MA Student, Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
Melanie Askari, PhD Student, Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
Charles Branas, Professor, Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
Abstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stamford Connecticut Department of Health (SDH) partnered with Columbia-Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH) to develop an online dashboard that displays real-time case, death, test, vaccination, hospital utilization, and forecasts, allowing SDH to monitor trends for local demographic/geographic groups. Insights provided by the dashboard allowed SDH to initiate timely and targeted testing/vaccination campaigns. The dashboard is widely used and highlights the benefit of public-academic partnerships in public health, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presence of Masters and Doctoral students at MSPH with prior computer programming and information technology training proved critical to the success of this project and to several other COVID-19 response projects conducted by the MSPH. Students with advanced computer programming skills and epidemiologic training will continue to be needed during public health crises. This experience suggests that deeper ties should be fostered within universities between schools of public health and undergraduate and graduate computer science and/or data science departments.
Team Lead Contact
Andrew Rundle: agr3@cumc.columbia.edu
