Anne Arundel Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Sarbanes (D-Md.) on May 12, 2023 called for leveraging the lessons learned and systems created during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve communication and coordination among all public health agencies, state and local providers, and the public.

In an Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee hearing entitled “Preparing for and Responding to Future Public Health Security Threats,” Congressman Sarbanes emphasized the importance of improving data collection, analysis and sharing efforts. He also stressed how we must continue to bolster our public health workforce, both to address current health care workforce shortages and to appropriately prepare for future public health crises. These goals, he explained, should be incorporated in this year’s reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA).

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in the United States’ public health emergency infrastructure. Congressman Sarbanes highlighted that in the absence of a uniform public health data reporting policy, faculty and students at Johns Hopkins University took on the laborious task of intertwining thousands of data sources into an online surveillance tool to map the virus’ spread. Dr. Tom Inglesby, Director of Johns Hopkins’ Center for Health Security, testified at the hearing and underscored the importance of adopting and building on these efforts nationwide.

“We know one of the big lessons we learned from the pandemic was how indispensable it is to get this information, to have it at our fingertips in real time,” said Congressman Sarbanes. “We pointed to some efforts that were stood up. Hopkins did a good job with their dashboard that they created – that’s being closed down, as you know, so it makes us think about where that capacity resides on an ongoing basis. CDC is a natural place for that kind of function.”

He continued, “Even as we’re exhaling – as we’re seeing some of the pandemic behind us, I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that we’re closing up shop. We’re seeing across the country that the public health officials are sort of closing up shop on what was a pretty impressive – in many instance – ability to respond to the pandemic and going beyond the baseline we need to maintain – going below the baseline we need to maintain – in order to be ready for the next thing so we’re not just starting from scratch.”

See below for a video of the Congressman’s full remarks.

Original source can be found here.