Premiums on electricity during Covid lockdowns in Italy

During Covid lockdowns, power companies in Italy charged premiums to cover increased prices for electricity, but it appears that isn’t the full story. For Bloomberg, Vernon Silver, Eric Fan, and Sam Dodge analyzed costs and premiums over time:

Even so, it’s clear – from executives’ celebratory comments during earnings calls as well as simple mathematics – that the dispatch market’s higher prices helped companies do far better than merely avoiding losses. In 2020 alone, dispatch premiums totaled €1.2 billion – or 238% more than companies would have received at the day-ahead price.

It looks like the power costs might partially be an excuse to charge more premiums. Maybe. Either way, I’m into the glowing aesthetic on the calendar heatmaps.

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Successful COVID-19 exposure notification system shuts down in most states

Photo of an iPhone showing a notification that says, "Exposure Notifications Off."

By Melanie Padgett Powers

As the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency expired on May 11, 2023, the COVID-19 Exposure Notifications System (ENS) in the majority of states also shut down. For the past three years, APHL has played a critical role in the US ENS.

The COVID-19 ENS made it possible for users to receive smartphone alerts when they — or more accurately, their phone — had been in the vicinity of someone who soon after reported a positive COVID-19 test through the ENS.

APHL, in collaboration with Google, Apple and Microsoft, and with program funding and guidance from partners at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has provided support for the ENS by hosting national servers since August 2020.

“The availability of these servers eliminated a significant burden for state public health authorities and enabled exposure notifications to occur across state lines, despite each state having a unique solution,” explained Emma Sudduth, APHL consultant and program manager for the national server operations.

At one point, 28 states were using the ENS and relying on the servers hosted by APHL. Over time, as pandemic restrictions loosened and vaccine uptake increased, some states’ public health authorities discontinued their exposure notification solutions. Most of the remaining states shut down ENS on May 11 as Apple, Google and APHL discontinued their support for key components of the system.

The ENS saved countless lives across the country, as people were alerted to exposures, allowing them to get tested quickly and take precautions to reduce the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Research in Washington state in June 2021 showed that the state’s exposure notifications tool, known as WA Notify, had saved an estimated 30–120 lives and likely prevented about 6,000 COVID-19 cases during the first four months of its use.

By 2023, WA Notify had approximately 235,000 participants share a positive test result, which generated more than 2.5 million anonymous exposure notifications.

“We’re tremendously proud of what WA Notify was able to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time, and eager to find ways to utilize this life-saving technology again in the future,” said Bryant Thomas Karras, MD, chief medical informatics officer at Washington State Department of Health. “Much of WA Notify’s success can be attributed to innovative collaboration among public, private and academic partners,” which included APHL, Apple, Google, Microsoft and the University of Washington.

Unprecedented private-public health partnership

It became clear early on in the pandemic that most states did not have the time, funding or capacity to create their own ENS. Even if they did, it would have resulted in several different types of exposure notifications tools across the country.

To solve this problem, Google and Apple partnered to create a turnkey solution called Exposure Notifications Express (ENX). ENX made it easier for public health agencies to launch a state ENS by eliminating the need to build their own tool. These private technology companies looked to APHL, as a trusted public health partner, to host the servers.

“APHL has a long history of supporting states in data exchange and the hosting of solutions,” said Scott Becker, APHL CEO. “Our participation in the ENS gave the US public health community a capable and accountable partner for hosting key components of this groundbreaking technology.”

APHL stepped up to provide the necessary national key server, which holds the ENS data for the entire country. With APHL taking responsibility for storing and securing the data, states did not have to host and maintain their own servers. The Bluetooth-enabled notifications and the digital language known as “exposure notification keys” protected privacy.

Furthermore, a national centralized server allowed exposure notifications to work between users who had tools published by different states, ensuring notification regardless of state boundaries.

“The national infrastructure supported by APHL was essential to the deployment and maintenance of exposure notification systems,” Karras said. “By securely hosting the [national servers] APHL removed the burden on individual public health authorities to build and host their own servers, and importantly, enabled communication, i.e., interoperability, between exposure notification tools deployed in the U.S. Interoperability ensured that individuals using the systems could seamlessly notify others when traveling across states.”

Lessons for the future

Throughout the nearly three years of ENS, lessons were learned and applied to improve the system over time. This resulted in more states providing an exposure notification solution and more users in those states adopting it, which led to higher levels of notifications.

The knowledge and experience gained with the use of the ENS means that, in the future, public health won’t have to start at baseline to build a system from scratch. In addition, the ability to learn from different states about their experiences with ENS could be leveraged for future public health solutions.

The private-public health partnership — with Google and Apple working together with APHL, along with the public health community and state health departments — was the first of its kind and shows the value of such measures. The ENS saved lives, prevented cases and slowed disease spread. The public health community will continue to explore how such innovations can be used in the future to improve public health.

“Washington State Department of Health recognizes the great value of public-private-academic partnerships and collaboration with other states to develop interoperable systems,” Karras said. “This collaboration allowed us to accomplish something that would not have been possible without working together. We are committed to strengthening these partnerships that have made exposure notification systems so successful.”

At APHL, Sudduth said, “The collaboration between private technology companies and public health in this endeavor made a far stronger solution. Learning from this experience and growing these established relationships will strengthen public health.”

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Wastewater surveillance gained prominence during the pandemic. Where is it now?

Panelists present on wastewater surveillance at APHL ID Lab Con.

By: Erin Morin, specialist, Environmental Health, APHL

While wastewater testing is typically used in environmental health applications, wastewater testing for infectious diseases was a prominent discussion topic at the inaugural APHL ID Lab Con. This surveillance approach is relatively new in the United States and rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic in large part due to CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. Wastewater surveillance was a reoccurring theme throughout the conference, and two major ideas emerged: it’s useful and it should be here to stay.

What is Wastewater Surveillance?

Wastewater surveillance is a strategy for early detection of disease trends in a community and serves as a complement to clinical data. Since most of the US population is connected to municipal sewage treatment systems, wastewater surveillance creates a snapshot of how diseases and pathogens move through a community. Wastewater surveillance can gather data regardless of whether community members are symptomatic or if they seek medical attention when they are feeling sick. This can be because of their own choices, opportunities or access to healthcare, or are using COVID at home testing kits. It also provides relatively quick, reliable data that can help inform public health action. Wastewater surveillance has been used for decades for polio surveillance in other countries and gained popularity in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it isn’t limited to just SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Many laboratories are expanding to other pathogens of concern and implementing wastewater surveillance as a staple tool in public health.

There were three different sessions at ID Lab Con that focused on wastewater surveillance and I learned new information from all of them. Below are summaries of the presentations made during each session. There is a lot here, but I found each presentation to be so interesting that I couldn’t hold back.

Wastewater Surveillance: Building Systems that Lead to Actionable Data

During this plenary session, panelists discussed their experiences collaborating with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), technical challenges faced when translating data to epidemiological practice, using wastewater surveillance for novel targets, and using it to inform public health actions.

Lauren Turner, PhD, of the Virginia Department of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS) presented on their collaborative project with FDA that piloted wastewater surveillance efforts for SARS-CoV-2 variants in Virginia from 2021-2022. They implemented wastewater surveillance in targeted food production areas within the state such as tree nut, fruit and animal meat processing facilities due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on worker illness rates and food manufacturing productivity. They were able to leverage national sequencing protocols established by the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) to efficiently complete this project. Virginia developed the wastewater surveillance assay for SARS-CoV-2 quantification, then collaborated with FDA to determine a sequencing protocol and created a bioinformatics pipeline to collaborate with bioinformaticians to better understand the data. Overall, the data provided insight into SARS-CoV-2 viral load proportions in the sample in general as well as the representation of different variants. After the successful completion of the pilot project, DCLS will continue performing wastewater surveillance for SARS-COV-2 and will expand to other pathogens of concern. They have created their own two-step pipeline, affectionately named SPLINTER after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character, which analyzes their sequencing results using FDA’s sequencing protocols. While DCLS noted the challenges posed by a new technology, such as complex mixed sample analysis, they are thankful for the FDA pilot project and excited to see where wastewater surveillance takes them next.

Dagmara Antkiewicz, PhD, began her presentation, “Technical Challenges to Enhanced Integration of Wastewater-based Pathogen Data in Epidemiological Practice” by providing a brief background on wastewater surveillance work at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH). As early adopters of wastewater surveillance, WSLH began using this innovative technology in the fall of 2020, less than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Their program covers 50% of the state’s population with geographical coverage ranging from large cities to small municipalities. WSLH has also been performing weekly whole genome sequencing on a subset of the wastewater surveillance samples for over a year and has successfully on-boarded wastewater influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) assays. Genomic surveillance of wastewater is a relatively new approach as wastewater surveillance was typically used to quantify SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic. Although uncommon right now, sequencing may be the new frontier for wastewater surveillance. However impressive WSLH’s wastewater program may be, Antkiewicz focused this presentation on the challenges of this testing. Noting that wastewater surveillance is here to stay, she posed the question, “How do we move forward with it?”

The biggest challenge Antkiewicz mentioned was the lack of a standard method. While APHL and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have come out with some guidance, every laboratory is running different tests based on what works best for them. Another noted challenge stemmed from the relative infancy of this testing in the US. As an epidemiological tool, there is still much to be uncovered—laboratory testing sensitivity, normalization and turnaround time all appear to be sufficient, but long-term data will tell if current approaches are adequate. Going forward, WSLH plans to continue using wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2, influenza and RSV, while evolving the system to provide new sources of data to help understand how diseases move through a community.

With all the hype around the new show The Last of Us, it’s no surprise a fungus made it to the stage at ID Lab Con.Alessandro Rossi, PhD, Utah Public Health Laboratory, shared their work using wastewater surveillance to detect Candida auris.C. auris is a fungus that causes severe infections that are often resistant to medication and difficult to identify. This fungus is becoming more common and can spread in hospitals and nursing homes. Although at the start of this project, there was no documented evidence of person-to-person transmission of C. auris in Utah, Rossi and his colleagues thought it would be useful to determine whether wastewater surveillance could detect it in the environment. Leveraging infrastructure implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, they transitioned to looking for C. auris. With just a few tweaks to a clinical culture method they were able to recover the fungus from wastewater sent from neighboring Nevada in May 2022. This result allowed them to establish an epidemiological link between wastewater isolates and healthcare facilities within the sampled sewershed. In collaboration with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, they also used community-level wastewater surveillance via PCR to follow the transfer of a C. auris– infected patient from Nevada to a city in Utah where the pathogen was not previously detected. The patient was admitted in early November and in only a few weeks, the laboratory was detecting the fungus in the wastewater. No other cases were identified, but C. auris was detected until mid-February. Efforts that began from curiosity of whether C. auris could be recovered from wastewater turned into an organism-specific proof-of-concept study on the feasibility of wastewater based epidemiology.

With SARS-CoV-2 detection under their belt, many laboratories have begun to branch out to see if wastewater surveillance technologies can be applied to other pathogens. One major component of wastewater surveillance is the use of sequencing to determine the presence of specific pathogens in the community that are not commonly looked for in other surveillance measures. In his presentation, Eric Vaughn and the DC Public Health Laboratory detailed their sequencing journey. To use laboratory bench time most efficiently, they determined the best kit for their workflow: a rapid sequencing kit. Thanks to this choice, they were able to find genes representative of sexually transmitted infections, and a host of E. coli, tuberculosis and Salmonella that wouldn’t have known otherwise. As they continued sequencing, they would move on to emerging infections just as mpox cases began to pop up around the country. By using a simple kit, they were able to make a significant discovery—identifying how much of a wastewater sample’s viral load was made up of the mpox virus. The very same library prep kit would also allow them to see seasonal viruses such as influenza A and B. Next, the DC laboratory set their sights on Salmonella. In DC, there is no mandatory reporting, meaning the laboratory is not guaranteed to catch every Salmonella case that goes to a DC hospital. However, using wastewater surveillance, they can determine a baseline of Salmonella within the city over time. By determining the prevalence of different Salmonella serotypes in the area, they can create a baseline that allows the laboratory to notice if something new or unusual shows up in the wastewater. This will enable the laboratory to communicate a potential Salmonella outbreak in the city to epidemiologists without the need for clinical data. Looking to the future, the DC Public Health Laboratory will continue to identify increased prevalence of pathogens, especially around long-term care facilities and schools.

Pushing Back the Frontiers if Science: A Review of This Year’s Literature

During this plenary session, panelists discussed the current literature on various aspects of public health. Topics ranged from respiratory viruses, mycology, next generation sequencing and, of course, wastewater surveillance, presented by Michael Pentella, PhD, D(ABMM), director of the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa.

While wastewater surveillance is a relatively new technology in the US, there is no shortage of scientific literature on the topic—in fact, Pentella found over 1,200 papers when preparing his presentation. The first paper he covered was a systematic review that proves wastewater surveillance is a useful tool in the public health toolbox. The next articles were split into pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical, with pre-analytical focusing on sampling approaches and the analytical part focusing on methods. But the post-analytical paper focused on ethics—an emerging conversation in wastewater surveillance that discusses the need for wastewater results to be considered as human health data. If wastewater data are treated similarly to clinical data, it will protect privacy and advance this science more efficiently as ethical concerns would likely hinder progress. While still a new technology to the US, available literature shows that wastewater surveillance has established itself as a powerful tool to identify, locate and manage outbreaks, but ethical considerations will need to underlie scientific decisions moving forward.

Responding to Emerging Infectious Disease

During this session, panelists shared their expertise on responding to various infectious diseases that have plagued the country these past few years. Kirsten St. George, PhD, Wadsworth Center, discussed how they leveraged their wastewater surveillance infrastructure developed during the pandemic to respond to a polio outbreak.

St. George began her presentation with a brief background on polio and its vaccinations. As polio had been declared eradicated in the US decades ago, vaccination efforts ceased nearly 20 years ago. Most notably, only 30% of infected individuals show symptoms, allowing this dangerous virus to silently travel though communities. In June 2022, when an immunocompetent adult presented at the hospital with fever, fatigue and stiff joints, nothing seemed to be exceptionally out of the ordinary. Samples were collected from the patient and sent to the Wadsworth Center where they were confirmed to be positive for enterovirus, which again, was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was business as usual until the laboratory manager came to St. George with shocking news: they had received the routine VP1 sequencing results and the sample was positive for poliovirus. Her immediate response was “run them again.” Unfortunately, the sample had been evaluated three separate times with the same results. After confirmation from CDC, it was official: polio had been resurrected in New York. After some investigation, it was determined the patient had been exposed in the US. Wadsworth Center needed to track the virus to find out how long it had been present, so they turned to a newer addition in their public health arsenal: wastewater surveillance. To do this, they used legacy samples from fourteen counties near the initial case and found poliovirus had already been circulating before the initial case was identified. The laboratory continued to use wastewater data to guide epidemiologists and inform public health interventions such as vaccination efforts in low vaccination-rate regions. New York will continue to monitor the wastewater for poliovirus in the fourteen counties and areas with high travel rates since poliovirus is still endemic in other parts of the world. The laboratory has also developed a plan to scale up surveillance should another case arise. Due to the significant percentage of asymptomatic polio, wastewater surveillance and clinical data provided public health officials with the information they needed to keep this outbreak under control. It also provided the rationale to comprehensively plan for future responses.

While wastewater surveillance certainly has its challenges as a new technology in the US, attendees at APHL ID Lab Con learned it can play a key role in public health practice. With its ability to detect disease trends within a community in an unbiased way, identify the presence of diseases without clinical case data, and distinguish additional pathogens of concern, laboratories have been able to transition their pandemic-developed wastewater surveillance infrastructure into a versatile tool for a variety of post-pandemic public health needs.

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Connecting the COVID-19 dots with technology

People in a public transportation hub, checking their phones

The emergence of COVID-19 required swift action to develop systems and processes that support public health agencies and their pandemic response efforts. In the last seven months, APHL has worked to create new connections, develop new message formats, standardize language and host a variety of solutions to aid in the COVID-19 response. This blog post is the second in a series that outlines and explains these efforts.

In order for public health officials to successfully respond to an emerging threat, they need to have a direct line to the public to understand the situation, monitor the spread of disease and provide potentially life-saving guidance to a variety of audiences. In the case of COVID-19, the ability for health departments to monitor those at-risk and advise appropriate isolation measures and medical needs has been critical. Health informatics technology solutions are providing health departments with real-time data, ensuring they can respond quickly to changing threats.

Meet Sara AlertTM

A real-time COVID-19 monitoring and reporting tool, Sara Alert™ was developed by MITRE Corporation in collaboration with APHL and other national public health organizations. Available in the public domain and free of charge to public health agencies, Sara Alert™ is designed to contain the spread of disease through automated and remote monitoring and rapid response. Here’s how it works:

For Monitoring Exposed Individuals

    • Sara Alert™ enables public health officials to enroll individuals who are ill or at risk of developing COVID-19 (e.g., individuals from affected areas or contacts of known cases).
    • Enrolled individuals enter their (and other members of their household) symptoms daily through their preferred platform (i.e., web browser via mobile or desktop, text-based, voice), providing public health officials real-time insights.
    • The information is stored in a secure database and displayed on monitoring line lists so that public health officials can quickly and efficiently identify individuals requiring care coordination or follow up for non-response.

For Monitoring Ill Individuals

    • Sara Alert™ enables public health officials to enroll individuals who have developed a disease, like COVID-19, who need to be monitored to determine when it is safe to discontinue isolation.
    • Once enrolled, individuals enter their symptoms daily through their preferred platform (i.e., web browser via mobile or desktop, text-based, voice), providing public health officials real-time insights.
    • The information is stored in a secure database and displayed on monitoring line lists so that public health officials can quickly and efficiently identify individuals who may discontinue isolation.

Sara Alert™ modernizes the public health monitoring and response system by providing increased efficiency in tracking both active and potential cases, leading to earlier containment of the virus and reduction of burden on public health resources. As an open source tool, Sara Alert™ is available for public and private use and is easily integrated into other healthcare tools.

Sara Alert™ is hosted on the APHL Informatics Messaging Services (AIMS) platform, a secure, cloud-based environment that provides shared services to aid in the transport, validation, translation and routing of electronic data.

A deluge of data

In addition to hosting Sara Alert™, APHL has built and maintains a data lake on AIMS to help paint a comprehensive picture of the nation’s testing landscape and needs.

In the simplest terms, a “data lake” is a repository—it hosts raw data of diverse formats from various sources with no real organizational structure. These data can be accessibly stored and repurposed to meet multiple data needs, such as reporting and visualization of disease trends.

APHL originally developed its data lake as a resource for monitoring cases of antibiotic resistance and was designed with the security and functionality needed to work as part of AIMS. But two weeks before going live, the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent and priorities for the data lake shifted.

Knowing states had valuable data and APHL had technology to scale, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked APHL to reconfigure its data lake to focus on COVID-19. In a matter of weeks, the data late was modified to capture positive, negative and inconclusive COVID-19 testing data.

Today, APHL’s data lake holds nearly all the nation’s COVID-19 testing data sent from public health departments who are reporting their states’ testing data county by county. These data are analyzed and visualized for surveillance and provide a real-time snapshot of the testing landscape nationwide.

Ready for what’s next

Public health officials and epidemiologists remain on high alert for a COVID-19 resurgence, both in the weeks ahead and into the next flu season. Since both the Sara Alert™ platform and COVID-19 data lake are configurable for other conditions, they give scientists an invaluable head start for monitoring in the event of new pandemics and large-scale outbreaks. The advancements and refinements made with monitoring tools and technologies now will help the public health community respond even faster to track and contain an outbreak in the future.

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Lab Culture Ep. 22: Life as a public health lab scientist testing for COVID-19

Matt Sinn and Jessica Bauer pose with the Missouri state flag

Jessica Bauer and Matt Sinn are scientists at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory. On this episode, they shared their experiences performing COVID-19 testing, working long hours seven days a week, supporting their staff while trying not to burnout themselves. As they describe in this conversation, the experience has been nothing they ever could have expected.

Jessica Bauer, molecular unit chief
Matthew Sinn, molecular laboratory manager

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts:

Links:

Missouri State Public Health Laboratory
APHL: Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 posts on APHLblog.org 

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The Story Collider Presents: APHL – call for story pitches

The Story Collider and APHL logos

Sadly, in its inaugural year, APHL’s ID Lab Con had to be canceled. Well, most of it… APHL planned an exciting after hours event with The Story Collider and we’re joining them in bringing this event to you online!

On August 27 (time TBD), The Story Collider and APHL will host a very special edition of their online live show. They will choose three people to share true, personal stories related to the COVID response in some way, showcasing the work and lives of the APHL community.

What is The Story Collider?

Science and public health shape everyone’s life—and that means everyone has science and public health stories to tell. The Story Collider produces dozens of live shows all over the country, and recently has moved to an exciting online format. Some of the stories are heartbreaking, others are hilarious, but they are all true and all very personal. Join us on August 27, 2020 (time TBD) for a very special edition of The Story Collider, featuring three true, personal stories about science from APHL members!

What makes a good story for this event?

Stories are powerful. Whether hilarious or heartbreaking, subversive or soothing, it matters who takes the stage and what stories are told. Whatever your position in the lab, we want to hear yours! The story must have an arc. This means that you, the storyteller, change from the beginning to the end of the story. This change can be big or small— as momentous as becoming a parent or as small as learning to ask for help—but it has to be there in order for the audience to feel that the story is going somewhere.

Is this similar to a conference presentation?

The Story Collider is not the place for lectures: it is about lived experiences. And the format does not include slides or props. Though this is a science storytelling show, the goal is not to educate the audience, but to build an emotional connection between science and the public. So while each story must contain a significant science element, please use only as much science as needed for the audience to understand and follow your story.

I have an idea, but it needs some help!

All you need at this point is the seed of an idea for your story. It can be about almost anything – being pulled away from your usual work to support COVID testing, a surprising realization, long days at the lab, supporting a team, misadventure, love, loss and more, but it must be about YOU. True, personal stories have the most power when they are about the person telling them. Let the audience in on your thoughts and feelings so they can go on the journey with you.

If you are selected for the show, keep in mind that there is a small time commitment involved. Every storyteller works one on one with a Story Collider producer to brainstorm and shape their story, and then they typically hold a group rehearsal one to three days before the show.

The Story Collider event will be recorded. If you would like to submit a pitch, please be sure to get any necessary permissions from your supervisor and public information officer.

Send your pitches!

Pitches are typically about two paragraphs long. Send your pitch to stories@storycollider.org with “APHL Story Idea” in the subject line. The deadline for pitches is July 10, 2020.

Need some inspiration?

 

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Antibody Testing Is Important in COVID-19 Response, But More Data Is Needed to Expand Its Role

APHL and CSTE logos

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Silver Spring, MD, May 7, 2020 — With increasing interest in expanded serological testing as part of the nation’s COVID-19 testing strategy, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) today issued a joint statement outlining potential public health applications for antibody testing, while identifying caveats that limit its current use.

According to “Public Health Considerations: Serologic Testing for COVID-19,” serologic testing is helpful in estimating the prevalence of past viral infection or the cumulative incidence of infection in the US population. It can also improve understanding of disease transmission patterns and the proportion of people previously infected, among various populations. In order for these methods to be used effectively, however, public health researchers and scientists need more data on the performance characteristics of these tests and the human immune response to COVID-19, such as the persistence and protection offered by antibodies.

“Serological testing is an important part of a testing strategy in response to COVID-19, but there is simply a lot that we still don’t know,” said Scott Becker, MS, chief executive officer of APHL. “Until we have more evidence, serological tests alone should not be used to make decisions such as when staff can return to work, the need for personal protective equipment or the need to discontinue social distancing measures.”

“We don’t have all the information we need yet about COVID-19 serologic testing,” added Janet Hamilton, MPH, executive director of CSTE. “As we learn more, the information will improve our understanding of disease transmission patterns, and data from serologic surveys can be used to understand the proportion of persons previously infected among various populations.”

With the limitations in mind, the statement identifies several potential public health applications, including:

  • Determining how widespread COVID-19 infection has been in a community or population to both understand the scale of the current pandemic and in preparation for future vaccine development and deployment;
  • Identifying people with an antibody response to serve as convalescent plasma donors; and
  • Determining if a person had an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, irrespective of whether they had symptoms or not, yet more data is needed.

The statement also provides an overview of serologic methods, considerations for selecting assays for seroprevalence surveys and for test result interpretation, and outstanding research needs.

For more, contact Michelle Forman at 240-485-2793 or michelle.forman@aphl.org

# # #

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the U.S. and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats. Learn more at www.aphl.org.

Founded in 1951, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) represents the interests of State Epidemiologists from all 50 U.S. states and territories, comprising the Council. CSTE is also the professional home to nearly 2000 practicing applied epidemiologists working at the state, local, tribal and territorial levels. For more information, visit www.cste.org.

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APHL Applauds Revised FDA Policy on Serology Tests for COVID-19

Laboratory scientist performing serologic testing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement by Scott Becker, CEO, Association of Public Health Laboratories

Silver Spring, MD, May 4, 2020 — “The Food and Drug Administration made the right decision by walking back its policy on serology testing for COVID-19.

“We’ve long been concerned that allowing tests on the market that have not been approved and authorized for use is a recipe for disaster. This revised policy makes a lot of sense and should have been in place over the last six weeks.

“The changes announced today bring quality and transparency back into the picture on serology. In addition, it provides important guidance on performance criteria.

“We look forward continuing to work with our partners at FDA in responding to this ongoing pandemic and protecting the health of all of our communities.”

Contact: Michelle Forman, 240-485-2793 or michelle.forman@aphl.org

 

# # #

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the U.S. and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats. Learn more at www.aphl.org.

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Nation’s Public Health Leaders Urge President Trump to use All Available Authorities to Quickly Produce Testing Supplies and Personal Protective Equipment

Lab scientist wearing personal protective equipment (PPE)

A joint statement by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Association of Public Health Laboratories, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the National Emergency Management Association

“We urge President Trump and the Administration to utilize all existing authorities to require American corporations to expand or retool their production lines to urgently produce testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). In order to respond to this pandemic, we need these items in mass quantities right now. Without a forceful and urgent call to these private sector partners, our nation won’t be equipped to contain COVID-19 and we will falter in our collective efforts to suppress this virus and reopen our cities, states, and territories.

“Specifically, production should include rapid manufacturing and production of supplies and equipment necessary for rapid point-of-care COVID-19 testing including reagents, point-of-care kits, viral transport media, laboratory supplies, and related products. Our nation’s recovery depends on public and private laboratories and public health, healthcare, and hospital systems having the capacity to test for COVID-19 in every community throughout the country. After robust testing capabilities are available, we will better be able to determine where and when it is safe to gradually loosen stay-at-home orders and restrictions on gatherings.

“Additionally, rapid manufacturing and production of PPE is needed to exponentially expand in settings where infection and transmission may be highest including hospitals, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, correctional facilities, grocery stores, and other venues where people congregate. Expanding PPE access to every necessary setting will protect those who are responding to COVID-19 today, but expansion will also be critical for preventing future COVID-19 transmission and lowering community transmission rates.

Our nation’s recovery from COVID-19 will be based on the rapid production of testing supplies and PPE. Now is the time for every company that can to produce these vital materials to help save American lives.”

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Nation’s Public Health Leaders Urge President Trump to use All Available Authorities to Quickly Produce Testing Supplies and Personal Protective Equipment

Laboratory scientist wearing personal protective equipment (PPE)

A joint statement by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Association of Public Health Laboratories, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the National Emergency Management Association

“We urge President Trump and the Administration to utilize all existing authorities to require American corporations to expand or retool their production lines to urgently produce testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). In order to respond to this pandemic, we need these items in mass quantities right now. Without a forceful and urgent call to these private sector partners, our nation won’t be equipped to contain COVID-19 and we will falter in our collective efforts to suppress this virus and reopen our cities, states, and territories.

“Specifically, production should include rapid manufacturing and production of supplies and equipment necessary for rapid point-of-care COVID-19 testing including reagents, point-of-care kits, viral transport media, laboratory supplies, and related products. Our nation’s recovery depends on public and private laboratories and public health, healthcare, and hospital systems having the capacity to test for COVID-19 in every community throughout the country. After robust testing capabilities are available, we will better be able to determine where and when it is safe to gradually loosen stay-at-home orders and restrictions on gatherings.

“Additionally, rapid manufacturing and production of PPE is needed to exponentially expand in settings where infection and transmission may be highest including hospitals, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, correctional facilities, grocery stores, and other venues where people congregate. Expanding PPE access to every necessary setting will protect those who are responding to COVID-19 today, but expansion will also be critical for preventing future COVID-19 transmission and lowering community transmission rates.

Our nation’s recovery from COVID-19 will be based on the rapid production of testing supplies and PPE. Now is the time for every company that can to produce these vital materials to help save American lives.”

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