Across the nation, government, business, and community leaders are devising plans to re-open the economy and public spaces, while minimizing the risks associated with a second wave of infection. These plans necessitate a dramatic increase in targeted surveillance activities that involve: (1) widespread testing; (2) contact tracing; (3) isolation of infected individuals; and (4) supports to seniors and other high-risk populations.
This reality raises important questions about how to build surveillance capacity at the scale and speed necessary to phase down current restrictions without recreating the conditions that led to the initial surge in infection and mortality. State public health and Medicaid agencies are well-poised to leverage existing partnerships and complementary skillsets to collaborate on these efforts.
Historically, health surveillance activities have been the domain of federal, state, and local public health departments. While these agencies are experts in organizing crisis responses to public health emergencies, the scale of the current pandemic is extraordinary. Along these lines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently discussed plans to re-purpose thousands of Census Bureau workers to augment contact tracing capacity. However, even with these supports, the magnitude of the current pandemic will require partnerships and resources from multiple sectors to create a response at a sufficient scale and within an acceptable timeframe to allow for safe restoration of public life.
