Primary Indicators to Systematically Monitor COVID-19 Mitigation and Response — Kentucky, May 19–July 15, 2020

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Varela, Kate ; Scott, Benjamin ; Prather, John ; Blau, Erin ; Rock, Peter ; Vaughan, Adam ; Halldin, Cara ; Griffing, Sean ; Pfeiffer, Heidi ; Hines, Janine ; Dirlikov, Emilio ; Thoroughman, Doug
• Corporate Authors:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Epidemic Intelligence Service. ; Kentucky. Department for Public Health. ; Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center. ; University of Kentucky. Center for Clinical and Translational Science. University of Kentucky. ; CDC COVID-19 Response Team. ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Career Epidemiology Field Officer Program.
• Description:
  What is already known about this topic? State and local health departments use various indicators to identify local and regional changes in the number of COVID-19 cases and severe outcomes, including hospitalizations and deaths.
  
  What is added by this report? Kentucky’s indicator monitoring report (IMR) is a useful tool that combines multiple data elements to generate a daily COVID-19 status score that allows systematic assessment of the state’s mitigation, response, and reopening efforts. The Kentucky Department for Public Health analyzes publicly available data sources and compiles the IMR using standardized Methods.
  
  What are the implications for public health practice? State and local health departments in other jurisdictions might benefit from implementation of systematic indicator monitoring to guide decision-making for COVID-19 reopening, mitigation, and response efforts.
  
  State and local health departments in the United States are using various indicators to identify differences in rates of reported coronaVirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalizations and deaths. To inform mitigation efforts, on May 19, 2020, the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) implemented a reporting system to monitor five indicators of state-level COVID-19 status to assess the ability to safely reopen: 1) composite syndromic Surveillance data, 2) the number of new COVID-19 cases,* 3) the number of COVID-19–associated deaths,† 4) health care capacity data, and 5) public health capacity for contact tracing (contact tracing capacity). Using standardized Methods, KDPH compiles an indicator monitoring report (IMR) to provide daily Analysis of these five indicators, which are combined with publicly available data into a user-friendly composite status that KDPH and local policy makers use to assess state-level COVID-19 hazard status. During May 19–July 15, 2020, Kentucky reported 12,742 COVID-19 cases, and 299 COVID-19–related deaths (1). The mean composite state-level hazard status during May 19–July 15 was 2.5 (fair to moderate). IMR review led to county-level hotspot identification (identification of counties meeting criteria for temporal increases in number of cases and incidence) and facilitated collaboration among KDPH and local authorities on decisions regarding mitigation efforts. Kentucky’s IMR might easily be adopted by state and local health departments in other jurisdictions to guide decision-making for COVID-19 mitigation, response, and reopening.
  
  Suggested citation for this article: Varela K, Scott B, Prather J, et al. Primary Indicators to Systematically Monitor COVID-19 Mitigation and Response — Kentucky, May 19–July 15, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 25 August 2020.
  
  mm6934e3.htm?s_cid=mm6934e3_w
  
  pdfs/mm6934e3-H.pdf
  
  
• Subjects:
  BetacoronaVirus CoronaVirus Infections CoronaVirus Infections/Diagnosis COVID-19 COVID-19 Testing Epidemiological Monitoring Humans Pandemics Pneumonia, Viral Population Surveillance
• Source:
  MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report ; v. 69, early release, August 25, 2020
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  69
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a5ee6aaa64618cea42e316f98a73f84b367094b3eab922ead41981493c7615bda3b1b96db56119d0986c3f65d679fcf97d799b909b775fb2f7a5895e4d12b08a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/92477/cdc_92477_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 218.62 KB ]