An Open Repository of Real-Time COVID-19 Indicators

The COVID-19 pandemic presented enormous data challenges in the United States. Policy makers, epidemiological modelers, and health researchers all require up-to-date data on the pandemic and relevant public behavior, ideally at fine spatial and temporal resolution. The COVIDcast API is our attempt to fill this need: Operational since April 2020, it provides open access to both traditional public health surveillance signals (cases, deaths, and hospitalizations) and many auxiliary indicators of COVID-19 activity, such as signals extracted from deidentified medical claims data, massive online surveys, cell phone mobility data, and internet search trends. These are available at a fine geographic resolution (mostly at the county level) and are updated daily. The COVIDcast API also tracks all revisions to historical data, allowing modelers to account for the frequent revisions and backfill that are common for many public health data sources. All of the data are available in a common format through the API and accompanying R and Python software packages. This paper describes the data sources and signals, and provides examples demonstrating that the auxiliary signals in the COVIDcast API present information relevant to tracking COVID activity, augmenting traditional public health reporting and empowering research and decision-making.

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Review of Making Data Talk: Communicating Public Health Data to the Public, Policy Makers, and the Press

World Medical & Health Policy ◽

10.2202/1948-4682.1107 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 142-145

Author(s):

Arnauld Nicogossian

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Public Policy ◽

Health Data ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Public ◽

Public Health Data ◽

The Press

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Essay I Primary Care and Public Health

The Practical Playbook ◽

10.1093/med/9780190222147.003.0201 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 26-27

Author(s):

Julie K. Wood

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Primary Care ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Federal Agencies ◽

Community Members ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Professionals ◽

Primary Care Clinicians ◽

The Right

Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of public health and primary care clinicians from across the United States, this book explains why population health is receiving so much attention from policy makers in states and federal agencies, the practical steps that clinicians and public health professionals can take to work together to meet the needs of their community, signs that you are on the right track (or not) and how to sustain successes to the benefit of patients, community members, and the health care and public health teams that care for them.

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Data and the Future of Public Health

The Practical Playbook ◽

10.1093/med/9780190222147.003.0025 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 305-310

Author(s):

Jeffrey Engel

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Primary Care ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Federal Agencies ◽

Community Members ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Professionals ◽

Primary Care Clinicians ◽

The Right

Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of public health and primary care clinicians from across the United States, this book explains why population health is receiving so much attention from policy makers in states and federal agencies, the practical steps that clinicians and public health professionals can take to work together to meet the needs of their community, signs that you are on the right track (or not) and how to sustain successes to the benefit of patients, community members, and the health care and public health teams that care for them.

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Partnering With Medicaid, Medicare, Public Health, and Primary Care to Improve Health Outcomes

The Practical Playbook ◽

10.1093/med/9780190222147.003.0017 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 195-206

Author(s):

Sharon G. Moffatt ◽

Monica Valdes Lupi ◽

Kathleen Nolan

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Primary Care ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Federal Agencies ◽

Community Members ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Professionals ◽

Primary Care Clinicians ◽

The Right

Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of public health and primary care clinicians from across the United States, this book explains why population health is receiving so much attention from policy makers in states and federal agencies, the practical steps that clinicians and public health professionals can take to work together to meet the needs of their community, signs that you are on the right track (or not) and how to sustain successes to the benefit of patients, community members, and the health care and public health teams that care for them.

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Community Health Assessments: Past, Present, and Future

The Practical Playbook ◽

10.1093/med/9780190222147.003.0015 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 167-179 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kevin Barnett ◽

Sara Rosenbaum

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Federal Agencies ◽

Community Members ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Professionals ◽

Health Assessments ◽

Primary Care Clinicians ◽

The Right

Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of public health and primary care clinicians from across the United States, this book explains why population health is receiving so much attention from policy makers in states and federal agencies, the practical steps that clinicians and public health professionals can take to work together to meet the needs of their community, signs that you are on the right track (or not) and how to sustain successes to the benefit of patients, community members, and the health care and public health teams that care for them.

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Challenges of Working Together

The Practical Playbook ◽

10.1093/med/9780190222147.003.0010 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 105-110

Author(s):

Lara Snyder

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Federal Agencies ◽

Community Members ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Professionals ◽

Working Together ◽

Primary Care Clinicians ◽

The Right

Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of public health and primary care clinicians from across the United States, this book explains why population health is receiving so much attention from policy makers in states and federal agencies, the practical steps that clinicians and public health professionals can take to work together to meet the needs of their community, signs that you are on the right track (or not) and how to sustain successes to the benefit of patients, community members, and the health care and public health teams that care for them.

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A COMPENDIUM OF PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SOURCES

American Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115513 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 131 (3) ◽

pp. 381-394 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

CAROL BRIGNOLI GABLE

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Data ◽

Data Sources ◽

Public Health Data

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#Hookahlife: The Rise of Waterpipe Promotion on Instagram

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/1090198118779131 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 106-113 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ziyad Ben Taleb ◽

Linnea I. Laestadius ◽

Taghrid Asfar ◽

Brian A. Primack ◽

Wasim Maziak

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Social Media ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Social Activity ◽

The United States ◽

User Generated Content ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Public Health Challenges ◽

Hookah Smoking ◽

Positive Light

Introduction. Hookah smoking is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, especially among young adults. The growth of social media has also enabled sharing of opinions, experiences, and marketing related to hookah via user-generated content. Aim. To evaluate the portrayal and promotion of hookah on Instagram and to highlight public health challenges created by this content. Method. A qualitative content analysis was performed on a sample of 301 Instagram posts made with the hashtags #hookah or #shisha in October 2016. Results. Of the 301 coded posts, 279 were relevant to hookah. These posts were most commonly made by hookah lounges/bars (29.2%) and individual users (27.6%). Posters were most commonly from Russia (38.5%), the United States (18.6%), and Germany (10.7%). A total of 63.8% of the posts were promotional in nature; 19.7% of posts contained hashtags that expressed hookah identity or community (e.g., #hookahlife); 35.5% of posts associated nightlife activities with hookah smoking and 33.0% portrayed hookah smoking as a social activity. Only one post (0.4%) mentioned that hookah might have negative health effects. Likes were more common on posts depicting novel rather than traditional hookah designs ( p = .027). Conclusions. Images from Instagram may help in understanding health behaviors such as hookah smoking. Our results suggest that domestic and international hookah promotion is common on Instagram. Instagram posts cast hookah in an overwhelmingly positive light and may normalize hookah use through associations with nightlife, community, and hookah identity. Policy makers and researchers should explore approaches for reducing the volume of promotional posts and tailoring counter-marketing to the specific themes presented on social media.

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Journalists and Public Health Professionals: Challenges of a Symbiotic Relationship

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness ◽

10.1017/dmp.2014.127 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 59-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Pauline Lubens

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

The United States ◽

Accurate Information ◽

Symbiotic Relationship ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Public ◽

Health Goals

AbstractJournalists and health professionals share a symbiotic relationship during a disease outbreak as both professions play an important role in informing the public’s perceptions and the decisions of policy makers. Although critics in the United States have focused on US reporters and media outlets whose coverage has been sensationalist and alarmist, the discussion in this article is based on the ideal—gold standard—for US journalists. Journalists perform three primary functions during times of health crises: disseminating accurate information to the public, medical professionals, and policy makers; acting as the go-between for the public and decision makers and health and science experts; and monitoring the performance of institutions responsible for the public health response. A journalist’s goal is to responsibly inform the public in order to optimize the public health goals of prevention while minimizing panic. The struggle to strike a balance between humanizing a story and protecting the dignity of patients while also capturing the severity of an epidemic is harder in the era of the 24-7 news cycle. Journalists grapple with dueling pressures: confirming that their information is correct while meeting the demand for rapid updates. Just as health care professionals triage patients, journalists triage information. The challenge going forward will be how to get ahead of the story from the onset, racing against the pace of digital dissemination of misinformation by continuing to refine the media-science relationship. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-5)

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