An Approach for Monitoring and Evaluating Community Mitigation Strategies for COVID-19

This document describes the approach of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s approach to evaluating community mitigation strategies and provides overarching considerations to support state, territorial, or local health departments, tribal health organizations, or others in monitoring and evaluating COVID-19 community mitigation strategies, including a logic model, suggested monitoring and evaluation questions, and potential data sources.

The approach considers outcomes that minimize COVID-19 morbidity and associated mortality, effects of community mitigation strategies on long-standing health disparities and social determinants of health, and how communities thrive socially, emotionally, and economically.

Source: An Approach for Monitoring and Evaluating Community Mitigation Strategies for COVID-19

    Views 525

    Adapting Evaluation Designs in Times of COVID-19 (Coronavirus): Four Questions to Guide Decisions

    This is a framework organized around four questions to address the ethical, conceptual, and methodological challenges that are affecting programmatic evaluation work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The questions are:

    • Should you adapt your evaluation questions and scope?
    • Can you improve what remains feasible?
    • Can you find ways around what is infeasible?
    • Can you tap into alternative sources of evidence?

    Source: Adapting Evaluation Designs in Times of COVID-19 (Coronavirus): Four Questions to Guide Decisions

      Views 577

      COVID-19 Kenya – Knowledge Sharing Tracker

      This resource, produced by the Kenya Ministry of Health in partnership with USAID, tracks reports, presentations, documents, and other tools which are being accumulated as new information about COVID-19 in Kenya is published. Several topics include: gender, PWD, informal settlement, COVID response/survey, wildlife, malnutrition, etc.

      Source: COVID-19 Kenya – Knowledge Sharing Tracker

        Views 660

        YouTube as a Source of Patient Information for Coronavirus Disease (COVID ‐19): A Content‐Quality and Audience Engagement Analysis

        YouTube is the second most popular website in the world and is increasingly being used as a platform for disseminating health information. The authors’ aim was to evaluate the content‐quality and audience engagement of YouTube videos pertaining to the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)‐CoV‐2 virus which causes the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19), during the early phase of the pandemic.

        They chose the first 30 videos for seven different search phrases: “2019 nCoV,” “SARS CoV‐2,” “COVID‐19 virus,” “coronavirus treatment,” “coronavirus explained,” “what is the coronavirus” and “coronavirus information.” Video contents were evaluated by two independent medical students with more than 5 years of experience using the DISCERN instrument. Qualitative data, quantitative data and upload source for each video was noted for a quality and audience engagement analysis.

        Out of the total 210 videos, 137 were evaluated. The mean DISCERN score was 31.33 out of 75 possible points, which indicates that the quality of YouTube videos on COVID‐19 is currently poor. There was excellent reliability between the two raters (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.96). 55% of the videos discussed prevention, 49% discussed symptoms and 46% discussed the spread of the virus.

        Most of the videos were uploaded by news channels (50%) and education channels (40%). The quality of YouTube videos on SARS‐CoV‐2 and COVID‐19 is poor, however, the authors have listed the top‐quality videos in their article as they may be effective tools for patient education during the pandemic.

        Source: YouTube as a Source of Patient Information for Coronavirus Disease (COVID ‐19): A Content‐Quality and Audience Engagement Analysis

          Views 943

          How the Virus Won

          This interactive graphic moves through the timeline of COVID-19 in the United States and shows via a map how and where the virus spread.

          Source: How the Virus Won

            Views 567

            Understanding the COVID-19 Pandemic Insights from Johns Hopkins University Experts

            This is a free, publicly available course entitled Understanding the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from Johns Hopkins University Experts. This course is set up as a series of short modules to explore the COVID-19 pandemic. Registration is not required. The modules build on each other. The course begins with a discussion of the virus that causes COVID-19 and works its way to the pandemic’s broader implications for society.

            This course features original content that was created after the imposition of social distancing measures.

            Upon completing this course, you will be able to:

            • Describe characteristics of the COVID-19 virus, including how it is diagnosed and treated
            • Understand the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emerging trends throughout the world
            • Discuss societal challenges raised by COVID-19 and opportunities to address them

            Source: Understanding the COVID-19 Pandemic Insights from Johns Hopkins University Experts

              Views 581

              Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using Data to Find a Balance

              In this report, the Partnership for EvidenceBased Response to COVID-19 (PERC), a consortium of global public health organizations and private sector firms, brings together findings from a survey conducted March 29-April 17, 2020 in 28 cities across 20 AU Member States, along with epidemiological measures of disease transmission and indicators of population movements and unrest, among others. Synthesized, these data provide a first-of-its-kind snapshot of baseline conditions in Africa during this rapidly evolving pandemic.

              The following recommendations are made:

              • While caseloads remain low, build public health capacity to test, trace, isolate, and treat cases—the necessary foundation for reopening society
              • Monitor data on how PHSMs meet local COVID-19 conditions and needs, and to determine when and how to lift them in a way that balances lives and livelihoods
              • Engage communities to adapt PHSMs to the local context and effectively communicate about risk to sustain public support, achieve widespread adherence, and shield vulnerable populations.

              Source: Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using Data to Find a Balance

                Views 786

                Global Research on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

                WHO is gathering the latest international multilingual scientific findings and knowledge on COVID-19. The global literature cited in the WHO COVID-19 database is updated daily (Monday through Friday) from searches of bibliographic databases, hand searching, and the addition of other expert-referred scientific articles.

                This database represents a comprehensive multilingual source of current literature on the topic. While it may not be exhaustive, new research is added regularly.

                Source: Global Research on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

                  Views 514