Northwestern University Scientists Develop New COVID-19 Surveillance System – NBC Chicago



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Two scientists from Northwestern University have created the world’s first dynamic surveillance system to track COVID-19, according to a press release from the university.

The system, which makes it possible to identify epidemics even before patients arrive in hospitals, was deployed Thursday in 195 countries.

Existing surveillance, according to the press release, does not identify significant changes in the pandemic or raise the alarm when there is an acceleration in disease transmission signaling an outbreak.

“We can let leaders know where the epidemic is happening before it appears in overcrowded hospitals and morgues,” said Lori Post, director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in press release. “Today’s systems are static and ours is dynamic.”

Post, James Oehmke, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University, worked with Charles Moss of the University of Florida to develop the system for four months.

The global monitoring application, called “GASSP (globAl Sars-Co2 Ssurveillance Project) “analyzes the virus in the same way that the economics field measures the expansion and contraction of the economy, according to the university.

“These methods have been proven to work, but this is the first time they have been applied to disease surveillance,” Post added. “We had the model and the medical surveillance parameters validated. We know they work.

A dashboard for the new COVID-19 tracking system is available on Northwestern’s website.



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