Modeling Megacity Medical System Response to a CBRNE Event

The collaborative effectiveness of the public health system (PHS) and the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) is limited in the case of a 10-kiloton (kt) nuclear event on a megacity due to an overall lack of knowledge and understanding among agencies. This study details an exhaustive analysis of the current medical response system using New York City as a case study. Through the problem definition phase of the Systems Decision Process (SDP), this report identifies operational gaps existing at different levels within the system. Identified operational gaps existed at the local, state, and federal levels in the areas of resources, communication, and planning within the following agencies: Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Evaluation of the operational gaps illustrated the areas which were most vulnerable. The current analysis suggests that the system in place requires adjustments of the identified gaps so that maximum efficiency can be achieved.

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A Connecticut healthcare system’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

American Journal of Disaster Medicine ◽

10.5055/ajdm.2021.0401 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 195-202

Author(s):

Jane Keating, MD ◽

Lenworth Jacobs, MD, MPH, DSc, FACS, FWACS ◽

Daniel Ricaurte, MD ◽

Rocco Orlando, MD ◽

Ajay Kumar, MD ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New England ◽

Emergency Management ◽

Adult Population ◽

Herd Immunity ◽

Healthcare Systems ◽

Emergency Operations ◽

Scarce Resources ◽

The Public ◽

At Risk Populations

Connecticut was impacted severely and early on by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the state’s proximity to New York City. Hartford Healthcare (HHC), one of the largest healthcare systems in New England, became integral in the state’s response with a robust emergency management system already in place. In this manuscript, we review HHC’s prepandemic emergency operations as well as the response of the system-wide Office of Emergency Management to the initial news of the virus and throughout the evolving pandemic. Additionally, we discuss the unique acquisition of vital critical care resources and personal protective equipment, as well as the hospital personnel distribution in response to the shifting demands of the virus. The public testing and vaccination efforts, with early consideration for at risk populations, are described as well as ethical considerations of scarce resources. To date, the vaccination effort resulted in over 70 percent of the adult population being vaccinated and with 10 percent of the population having been infected, herd immunity is eminent. Finally, the preparation for reestablishing elective procedures while experiencing a second wave of the pandemic is discussed. These descriptions may be useful for other healthcare systems in both preparation and response for future catastrophic emergencies of all types.

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Big Data and Journalism: How American Journalism is Adopting the Use of Big Data

Novum Jus ◽

10.14718/novumjus.2021.15.1.4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 69-89

Author(s):

Julián Rodríguez ◽

Andrew M. Clark

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Big Data ◽

New York Times ◽

The United States ◽

Freedom Of Information ◽

The Public ◽

Digital Format ◽

American Journalism ◽

Depth Interviews

This research uses in-depth interviews with three data journalists from the Houston Chronicle and the New York Times in the United States to describe the role of data journalists, and to illustrate how and why they use big data in their stories. Data journalists possess a unique set of skills including being able to find data, gather data, and use that data to tell a compelling story in a written and visually coherent way. Results show that as newspapers move to a digital format the role of a data journalist is becoming more essential as is the importance of laws such as the Freedom of Information Act to enable journalists to request and use data to continue to inform the public and hold those in power accountable.

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A statewide analysis of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in New York

10.1101/2021.02.20.21251598 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Erica Lasek-Nesselquist ◽

Navjot Singh ◽

Alexis Russell ◽

Daryl Lamson ◽

John Kelly ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New York City ◽

York City ◽

New York State ◽

The United States ◽

York State ◽

Multiple Introductions ◽

The Public ◽

Travel Restrictions ◽

Westchester County

AbstractNew York State, in particular the New York City metropolitan area, was the early epicenter of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the United States. Similar to initial pandemic dynamics in many metropolitan areas, multiple introductions from various locations appear to have contributed to the swell of positive cases. However, representation and analysis of samples from New York regions outside the greater New York City area were lacking, as were SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the earliest cases associated with the Westchester County outbreak, which represents the first outbreak recorded in New York State. The Wadsworth Center, the public health laboratory of New York State, sought to characterize the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 across the entire state of New York from March to September with the addition of over 600 genomes from under-sampled and previously unsampled New York counties and to more fully understand the breadth of the initial outbreak in Westchester County. Additional sequencing confirmed the dominance of B.1 and descendant lineages (collectively referred to as B.1.X) in New York State. Community structure, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic analyses suggested that the Westchester outbreak was associated with continued transmission of the virus throughout the state, even after travel restrictions and the on-pause measures of March, contributing to a substantial proportion of the B.1 transmission clusters as of September 30th, 2020.

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Curating the Evidence About COVID-19 for Frontline Public Health and Clinical Care: The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium

Public Health Reports ◽

10.1177/00333549211058732 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003335492110587

Author(s):

Andrew D. Redd ◽

Lauren S. Peetluk ◽

Brooke A. Jarrett ◽

Colleen Hanrahan ◽

Sheree Schwartz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Clinical Care ◽

The United States ◽

The Novel ◽

Health Crisis ◽

The Public ◽

Successful Model ◽

Medical Response ◽

Public Consumption ◽

Novel Coronavirus

The public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a deluge of scientific research aimed at informing the public health and medical response to the pandemic. However, early in the pandemic, those working in frontline public health and clinical care had insufficient time to parse the rapidly evolving evidence and use it for decision-making. Academics in public health and medicine were well-placed to translate the evidence for use by frontline clinicians and public health practitioners. The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium (NCRC), a group of >60 faculty and trainees across the United States, formed in March 2020 with the goal to quickly triage and review the large volume of preprints and peer-reviewed publications on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 and summarize the most important, novel evidence to inform pandemic response. From April 6 through December 31, 2020, NCRC teams screened 54 192 peer-reviewed articles and preprints, of which 527 were selected for review and uploaded to the NCRC website for public consumption. Most articles were peer-reviewed publications (n = 395, 75.0%), published in 102 journals; 25.1% (n = 132) of articles reviewed were preprints. The NCRC is a successful model of how academics translate scientific knowledge for practitioners and help build capacity for this work among students. This approach could be used for health problems beyond COVID-19, but the effort is resource intensive and may not be sustainable in the long term.

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NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.46.1.164 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 164-165

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Medical Center ◽

New York State ◽

The United States ◽

Atlantic City ◽

York State Department ◽

United States Department ◽

Executive Council ◽

Department Of Health ◽

President Elect

Officers Elected: At the annual meeting of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association in Atlantic City in April 1970, the following officers and members of the Executive Council were elected: President John H. Kennell, President Elect Donald L. Fink, Executive Council Members: Ray E. Helfer and Roland B. Scott. Institites for Physicians and Nurses in the Care of Premature and Other Highrisk Infants, sponsored by the New York State Department of Health and the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and conducted at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center five times during the academic year, will begin in September, 1970.

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Local Disasters, Government Actors, and National Policy

Playing Politics with Natural Disaster ◽

10.7591/cornell/9781501748530.003.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Timothy W. Kneeland

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Emergency Management ◽

Federal Government ◽

National Policy ◽

The United States ◽

Local Leadership ◽

Disaster Policy ◽

National Trends ◽

Disaster Aid

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Hurricane Agnes, which swept through New York and Pennsylvania in late June of 1972. National trends influenced the federal and local response to the disaster. Hurricane Agnes struck the United States less than five months before the 1972 presidential election, and Richard Nixon's response to Hurricane Agnes was one variable in that election, which charted the course of American politics for the next three decades. In order to win reelection in 1972, President Nixon enacted the most substantial disaster aid package in history to that time, termed the Agnes Recovery Act, which he was convinced was the key to winning New York and Pennsylvania. The chapter then explains that local leaders played a crucial role in responding to the crisis in their communities and in flood recovery operations and rebuilding. Often neglected in studies of natural disaster policy is the way in which local leadership from government and the private sector interacted with representatives of the federal government to restore order and implement change. The chapter also introduces the Federal Office of Emergency Management (FEMA).

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Community Services: Contrasts Between Resident and Nonresident Landowners in the Adirondack Region of New York

Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council ◽

10.1017/s0163548400001199 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 132-142

Author(s):

Robert G. Craig ◽

Harry P. Mapp

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New York ◽

World War Ii ◽

The United States ◽

Community Services ◽

World War ◽

Revolutionary Change ◽

Role Of Government ◽

The Public

“There is more than enough evidence to show that the states and localities, far from being weak sisters, have actually been carrying the brunt of domestic governmental progress in the United States ever since the end of World War II … Moreover, they have been largely responsible for undertaking the truly revolutionary change in the role of government in the United States that has occurred over the past decade.”–Daniel J. Elazar, The Public Interest

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