The California Emerging Infections Program (CEIP) is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the surveillance, prevention, and control of emerging infectious diseases. In March 2020, CEIP began collecting COVID data just three weeks after the pandemic was declared a public health emergency. “We’ve never done that before,” says Gretchen Rothrock, Associate Director at CEIP. “But without the basic information about how much disease is out there, we can’t determine whether things are getting better or worse, or which people need the most help.” The work of CEIP has been published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
As the fiscal sponsor of CEIP, Heluna Health has assisted the organization with administrative optimization since 1994, and provided support with hiring, benefits administration, and equipment, to make possible CEIP’s timely response during the pandemic.
*FY21 time period is 7/1/2020 – 6/30/2021; Invasive – Neiserria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, group A Streptococcus (GAS) and group B Streptococcus; Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, STEC non-O157, Shigella, Vibrio, Yersinia, and Cyclospora; Invasive Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridioides difficile infections, candidemia, and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteraciae; **From the beginning of the pandemic through 6/30/2021
CEIP tracked 14,070 COVID-positive hospitalizations in San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties through June 30, 2021. CEIP also interviewed 1,541 COVID-positive healthcare workers and evaluated vaccine effectiveness among those workers. Additional studies monitored emerging COVID variants and described the characteristics of the illness experienced by healthcare workers who tested positive.
Going forward, researchers and policymakers will now be able to use CEIP’s data to better prepare for the future. And Heluna Health, with its partners, will continue to develop new and innovative approaches to pandemic preparedness that are driven by data, such as the creation of new tools that can help to better understand gaps in preparedness, foster community engagement, and focus outreach in higher-risk communities.
