Epidemiology

With schools nationwide preparing for fall and the federal government encouraging in-person classes, key concerns for school officials, teachers and parents include the risks that coronavirus poses to children and their role in transmission of the disease. A new KFF brief examines the latest available data and evidence about the issues…

As schools prepare for Fall, this brief examines what’s known about children and COVID-19, including the risk the virus poses to children and the risk of children becoming infected and transmitting to others, and the experiences of other countries that reopened classrooms.

Sweden’s response to the novel coronavirus has been simultaneously praised and criticized by public health experts. In an article for Foreign Affairs, KFF’s Josh Michaud discusses the merits and risks associated with Sweden’s hands-off approach to the pandemic.

In an article for Foreign Affairs, KFF’s Josh Michaud discusses Sweden’s response to novel coronavirus.

This blog examines the role of contact tracing in the U.S. coronavirus response. Contact tracing is going to be a crucial piece of the puzzle for eventually suppressing and containing the virus, allowing people to congregate in public, and letting people go back to work again. But policymakers have, so far, not focused much on scaling up contact tracing capabilities. Capabilities needed include resources and trained staff for traditional contact tracing efforts, which can be supplemented with technological approaches through mobile phones and apps.

This weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed more U.S. cases of the latest international outbreak – coronavirus – which started in Wuhan, China. Josh Michaud, an Associate Director for Global Health Policy at KFF, offers perspective on the U.S. role and how response to this outbreak compares to others, such as SARS and the Ebola epidemic.

This fact sheet examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., one of the areas hardest hit by HIV in the United States. Fact Sheet: July 2012 (.pdf)