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This document provides guidance on conducting after-action reviews (AARs) of the public health response to COVID-19. It offers a methodological approach that combines interactive workshops and interviews and includes practical implementation tools. The document builds upon previous ECDC guidance and aims to support countries in designing AARs for the response to COVID-19. AARs help review actions taken during a public health event, identify best practices and areas for improvement, and contribute to continuous quality improvement in emergency preparedness and response planning. The guidance is adaptable for national and sub-national contexts and targets public health experts from EU/EEA Member States, EU candidate and potential candidate countries, and European Neighbourhood Policy countries.

This study investigates deaf American Sign Language (ASL) users’ access to telehealth and outpatient encounters during the pandemic. The findings emphasize the importance of optimizing proactive accommodation planning and access including in telehealth platforms.

This resource provides guidance on how to care for children in foster care during COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic, caring for children in foster care was a challenge due to the changes brought about by social distancing and other measures. Children in foster care may have experienced adversity and trauma, making them more vulnerable to the effects of these changes. To help children in foster care during this difficult time, it is important to stay connected through virtual means, look for signs of stress, establish daily routines, reassure them, seek extra help if needed, have a back-up plan for emergencies, ensure safety and security, maintain family connections through in-person or virtual visits, and weigh the risks of in-person visits based on COVID-19 guidance. It is also essential to take care of oneself as a caregiver.

The Oregon county with the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the United States began its response in the earliest days of the pandemic. The county’s Emergency Operations Center wanted to center equity in its response and did so by rapidly creating new positions on the team: an Equity Officer, an Equity Technical Advisor, and a Language Access Coordinator. It also established an Equity Team within the center. This allowed responses to quickly identify and respond to population needs, especially those in communities of color experiencing disproportionate impacts of disease spread and burden.

This article identifies four key steps to preparing for the next the next public health emergency. First, public health must invest in a modernized data infrastructure that connects health and public health systems. Second, the contact tracing and disease investigation specialist workforce should be expanded, and processes set up to grow this workforce quickly during times of acute crisis. Third, better contact tracing policies should be put into place prior outbreaks to support public health systems’ ability to respond effectively. And finally, increase public awareness of and trust in their local public health infrastructure.

This article discusses what can be learned from the response to COVID-19 within the United States-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPIs). Rates of COVID-19 in this region were much lower than those in the mainland US, despite fewer public health resources. The article credits this to strong partnership and collaboration with neighboring islands, the mainland US, and the federal government; strong regional information sharing; creating and nurturing local and regional trust; and trust regionally; and decisive and aggressive quarantine practices.

This article discusses what is needed to establish and improve evidence-based decision making competencies in local public health departments. It identifies five domains of “administrative evidence-based practices” to help local health departments: leadership, workforce development, organizational culture and climate, partnerships, and financial transparency. It offers guidance on implementing evidence-based decision making practices.

The article stresses the importance of leveraging the Medical Reserve Corps when responding to pandemics and other mass public health events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these community volunteers allowed local public health agencies to quickly scale to respond to this crisis.

Behind every statistic on health outcomes, there are human beings – people, families, and communities. Data visualizations can often overlook this fact but should seek to honor the lived experience of those impacted in inequitable ways. This post explores ways that justice and personhood can be embedded in data visualizations, such as highlighting individual stories within a larger group to humanize quantitative information for the reader.

This guide from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation offers best practices and suggestions in how people can frame discussions on health equity and social determinants. Its focus is on effective rhetoric. This includes the use of accessible language to talk about disparities, leading with arguments that your audience is likely to find agreeable, and focusing messaging on one or two compelling facts.