Suggested articles

Pitt Public Health faculty have found the articles below to be particularly informative.  

Articles and resources recommended by Pitt Public Health faculty

Always the bridesmaid, public health rarely spotlighted until it's too late

NPR/OPINION (Rovner) - The U.S. is in the midst of both a public health crisis and a health care crisis. Yet most people aren't aware these are two distinct things. And the response for each is going to be crucial.  

‘Covid-19 Kills Only Old People.’ Only? Why are we OK with old people dying? (Aronson)

NY TIMES / OPINION - Why are we OK with old people dying? Despite the last century’s huge gains in longevity, in today's era of Covid-19 we are unable to address the needs of older Americans. It matters because when we accept the second-class citizenship of an entire category of human being, we set a precedent for treating others with the same disregard. We can choose to either diminish our elders or support them. When we care for them, we not o... 

Public Engagement Project on Medical Service Prioritization during an Influenza Pandemic (Li-Vollmer et al, 2009)

Public Health-Seattle & King County hosted four public engagement forums to discuss the rationing of scarce resources during a severe pandemic influenza. This report summarizes themes that emerged from the forums.  

Too Many Patients…A Framework to Guide Statewide Allocation of Scarce Mechanical Ventilation During Disasters (Daugherty Biddison et al)

CHEST JOURNAL -  Evaluating ethically permissible approaches to allocating scarce life-sustaining resources requires knowledge of public perspectives and moral points of reference. Maryland's critical care disaster resource allocation framework builds on a basic scoring system to assist hospitals and public health agencies in responding to a catastrophic health emergency in which demand for mechanical ventilators exceeds the capabilities of all ... 

Who is most at risk? Mapping COVID-19 risk factors in Allegheny County (3/28)

PUBLIC SOURCE - Across Allegheny County, several communities have a high prevalence of health factors associated with a greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19 — including advanced age, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. Allegheny County residents at risk for severe COVID-19 also tend to be clustered in communities with lower resources, based on factors like percentage of population below the federal poverty line or househ... 

What You Can Do About Coronavirus Right Now (3/26, NY TIMES)

NY TIMES - You have an essential role to play in slowing the spread of the new coronavirus. The good news is that small changes in personal behavior can buy time — slowing the outbreak, preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and reducing cases until scientists develop treatments and, eventually, a vaccine. Here’s some practical advice from doctors and public health experts to protect yourself and your community.  Check out this comprehen... 

Q. & A. - How to Practice Social Distancing (3/17)

THE NEW YORKER - Outlining the best social-distancing practices and how to follow them, this conversation discusses what to do when you go outside, how often to shower, the importance of walks, how to respond if someone you are sheltering with gets sick, the pros and cons of ordering food, and the unsung heroes at American medical facilities.  

The Covid-19 Tracker

STAT NEWS -  As the virus that causes Covid-19 spreads worldwide, this dashboard offers a snapshot of the crisis right now. Click on a country name to get a more detailed geographic breakdown at the state, province, or county level. Please note that because of limited testing capacity in some areas, the actual number of cases is believed to be higher.  

Deaths by U.S. State and Country Over Time: Daily Tracking (Katz, J. & Sanger-Katz, M).

NEW YORK TIMES (3/23/20) - As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds, people are dying around the world. But the trajectories of cases and deaths differ by country. (includes many clear and informative charts)  

An epidemiological forecast model and software assessing interventions on COVID-19 epidemic in China (Song, P. et al)

MEDRXIV (2/29/20) -  Pitt Biostats' Lu Tang and collaborators from Michigan develop a health informatics toolbox that enables public health workers to timely analyze and evaluate the time-course dynamics of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection using the publicly available data from the China CDC. This toolbox is built upon a hierarchical epidemiological model in which two observed time series of daily proportions of infected and removed ca... 

COVID-19—New Insights on a Rapidly Changing Epidemic (DelRio C. & Malani P.)

JAMA (2/28/20) - This Viewpoint provides an update on what’s known and not yet known about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, reviewing advances over the initial weeks of the outbreak in understanding the epidemiology and clinical spectrum of the illness and in approaches to diagnosis, management, and infection control.  

Update: Public Health Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak — United States, February 24, 2020 (Jernigan, D.)

CDC MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT(2/25/20) - An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread throughout China and to 31 other countries and territories. Fourteen U. S. cases have been diagnosed, in addition to 39 cases among repatriated persons from high-risk settings, for a current total of 53 cases. The U.S. government and public health partners are implementing aggressive measures to slow and contain transmission. Interi... 

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COVID-19 Events

Pitt Public Health students & COVID-19

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Doctors are taking to social media to encourage COVID-19 vaccination and counter misinformation 

Doctors are taking to social media to encourage COVID-19 vaccination and counter misinformation

WTAE - Beth Hoffman (BCHS ’22) and friends at Kids Plus Pediatrics tell WTAE how doctors are taking to social media to encourage COVID-19 vaccination and counter misinformation. "The evidence does suggest that what people are seeing on social media is influencing their decision about whether to get... (02/17/2022)
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Hoffman and Sidani: reducing vaccine hesitancy starts on social media 

Hoffman and Sidani: reducing vaccine hesitancy starts on social media

WPXI - BCHS's Jamie Sidani and Beth Hoffman (BCHS '19, '22) published new guidance for pediatricians outlining how to effectively talk to kids and parents about the COVID-19 vaccine that includes monitoring the messages being spread on social media. This guidance is broken down by ABC – be Active o... (10/25/2021)
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Hoffman says look to influencers to fight vaccine misinformation 

Hoffman says look to influencers to fight vaccine misinformation

CODA - Beth Hoffman (BCHS '19, ‘22) said public health institutions should be thinking more about how to harness local influencers. She pointed to a June 2021 study by researchers with the Public Good Projects, a U.S.-based public health nonprofit, analyzing the success of a micro-influencer campai... (09/20/2021)
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A fun, rewarding way to give back and make the public healthier 

A fun, rewarding way to give back and make the public healthier

EPI's Nancy Glynn (EPI '94) is the PittCoVax volunteer coordinator and has volunteered herself with students and staff from Pitt Public Health. "I was thrilled to work side-by-side with an awesome, energetic group of faculty, staff, and students," said Glynn. She also talked about building communit... (05/20/2021)
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Dean's Day 2021 EPI departmental award recipients 

Dean's Day 2021 EPI departmental award recipients

Darien Beall (EPI '21) won the master's level award and Mary Schiff (EPI 22) won the doctoral level award. Taylor Robinson (EPI '22) and Yu-Husan Lai (EPI '22) won the new Department of Epidemiology Health Disparity Research Award.  (04/26/2021)
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Award recipients for 2021's CPHP Translation and Cartier Ulrich Award 

Award recipients for 2021's CPHP Translation and Cartier Ulrich Award

In conjunction with Dean's Day, Praveen Kumar (HPM '21) and Alexander Sundermann (EPI '22) received the Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice. In addition, Darien Beall (EPI '21) and Stephanie Christian (BCHS '23) we... (04/26/2021)
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Sundermann and Harrison describe genomic surveillance and ending the COVID-19 pandemic 

Sundermann and Harrison describe genomic surveillance and ending the COVID-19 pandemic

THE CONVERSATION - Knowing the genome sequence helps researchers understand how the virus is mutating into variants and how it's traveling from person to person. Alexander Sundermann (IDM '14, EPI '22), EPI and IDM's Lee Harrison, and Pitt Medicine's Vaughn Cooper explain genomic surveillance - wha... (04/12/2021)
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Pitt Public Health faculty, staff, and students volunteer for vaccine rollout efforts 

Pitt Public Health faculty, staff, and students volunteer for vaccine rollout efforts

ACHD - Our faculty, staff, and students are volunteering in both clinical and non-clinical roles in partnership with the Allegheny County Health Department, community organizations, and other Pitt Health Sciences volunteers as additional points of dispensing are opening and dissemination of COVID-1... (03/17/2021)
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Covid vaccine misinformation target of Pitt study 

Covid vaccine misinformation target of Pitt study

KDKA CBS NEWS — Fueled by a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Pitt researchers are studying and combating false online information about vaccines. “Vaccines are often the victim of their own success,” said BCHS doctoral student Beth Hoffman, a research assistant at the Center for Resea... (02/01/2021)
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Masks and Much More: Public Health in the Time of COVID-19 

Masks and Much More: Public Health in the Time of COVID-19

PITTSBURGH CURRENT—"Green is associated with 'go,' 'all clear,' 'nothing to worry about'—but during this pandemic, green could not be further from the truth." Doctoral candidate Chantele Mitchell-Miland (EPI '20) and advisor EPI's Dara Mendez explain why we all still need to be vigilant and practic... (07/01/2020)
More COVID-19 stories