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The George Washington University (GW) in Washington, D.C., USA established the Public Health Laboratory and Campus COVID-19 Support Team (CCST) to develop and implement its SARS-CoV-2 surveillance testing and outbreak response for the 2020-2021 academic year. Approximately 4,000 GW members had access to campus for living accommodations, limited in-person instruction, athletics, research, and university operations. The outbreak response included daily risk assessment surveys, weekly surveillance testing, symptomatic and voluntary testing, case investigation, and contact tracing. Between August 17 – November 24, 2020, 42,350 SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests were performed, and 194 (0.46%) of tests were positive. Surveillance testing identified 59 (30.4%); voluntary testing 97 (50%); and symptomatic testing 30 (15.5%) of the cases, respectively. Robust testing of asymptomatic people and rapid isolation and quarantine of members who are exposed or infected effectively limited the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the Fall 2020 semester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees in the United States are believed to be at high risk of COVID-19. A cross-sectional study design was utilized to collect anonymous, online surveys from refugee communities in the United States during December 2020 to January 2021. We invited bilingual community leaders to share the survey link with other refugees aged ≥18 years. We identified factors associated with COVID-19 infection and measured the distribution of contact tracing among those who tested positive. Of 435 refugees who completed the survey, 26.4% reported testing positive for COVID-19. COVID-19 infection was associated with having an infected family member and knowing people in one's immediate social environment who were infected. Among respondents who tested positive, 84.4% reported that they had been contacted for contact tracing. To prepare for future pandemics, public health authorities should continue partner with refugee community leaders and organizations to ensure efficient programs are inclusive of refugee communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) are fundamental public health efforts widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate transmission. This study investigated how state, local, and tribal public health departments used CI/CT during the COVID-19 pandemic, including CI/CT methodology, staffing models, training and support, and efforts to identify or prioritize populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19., Methods: During March and April 2022, we conducted key informant interviews with up to 3 public health officials from 43 state, local, and tribal public health departments. From audio-recorded and transcribed interviews, we used the framework method to analyze key themes., Results: Major adjustments to CI/CT protocols during the pandemic included (1) prioritizing populations for outreach; (2) implementing automated outreach for nonprioritized groups, particularly during COVID-19 surges; (3) discontinuing contact tracing and focusing exclusively on case investigation; and (4) adding innovations to provide additional support. Key informants also discussed the utility of having backup staffing to support overwhelmed public health departments and spoke to the difficulty in "right-sizing" the public health workforce, with COVID-19 surges leaving public health departments understaffed as case rates rose and overstaffed as case rates fell., Conclusions: When addressing future epidemics or outbreaks, public health officials should consider strategies that improve the effectiveness of CI/CT efforts over time, such as prioritizing populations based on disproportionate risk, implementing automated outreach, developing models that provide flexible additional staffing resources as cases rise and fall among local public health departments, incorporating demographic data in laboratory reporting, providing community connections and support, and having a system of self-notification of contacts., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background Sixty-four state, local, and territorial health departments (HDs) in the United States report monthly performance metrics on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) activities. We describe national CI/CT efforts from 25 October 2020 through 24 December 2021, which included 3 peaks in COVID-19 case reporting. Methods Standardized CI/CT data elements submitted by the 64 HDs were summarized as monthly performance metrics for each HD and the nation. These included measures of CI/CT completeness, timeliness, and workloads. We calculated contact tracing efficacy as the proportion of new cases that occurred in persons identified as contacts within the 14 days before the case was reported. Results A total of 44 309 796 COVID-19 cases were reported to HDs, with completed HD interviews in 18 153 353 (41%). Less than half of interviews yielded ≥1 contact. A total of 19 939 376 contacts were identified; 11 632 613 were notified (58%), with 3 618 846 undergoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing within 14 days of notification. Of the total reported cases, 2 559 383 occurred in recently identified contacts. Conclusions We document the resource-intense nationwide effort by US HDs to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 through CI/CT before and after vaccines became widely available. These results document the coverage and performance of CI/CT despite case surges and fluctuating workforce and workloads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Surges related to the SARS-COV2 virus in the United States have underscored the critical importance of large-scale testing, case investigation and contact tracing. Baccalaureate nursing students have the potential to serve as surge capacity workforce in mitigation measures during this public health emergency., Methods: Over the course of eight weeks (September-December 2020) baccalaureate senior capstone nursing students served as case investigators for a local health department (LHD) on Long Island, New York and surveillance pooled saliva testers for their college to ensure compliance with a state-wide COVID-19 testing mandate. To determine student perceptions working in these concurrent novel academic-partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic, a descriptive survey of open-ended interview questions was completed by student participants (n = 10)., Results: Analysis of aggregate responses revealed common themes across the data set linking student learning and appreciation of the "eye-opening" experience to a sense of purpose, the value of communication, education and teamwork-all within the structure of public health nursing., Conclusions: Baccalaureate nursing students can effectively serve as an untapped workforce within an academic partnership to support surveillance testing and case investigation during the COVID-19 pandemic and future public health crises. This partnership had the added benefit of exposing nursing students to the critical nature of public health nursing during this historic time in our nation., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)