March 2025 - The Epidemiology Monitor

Epidemiology for Epidemiologists A monthly update covering people, events, research, and key developments Editor’s Note: Five years. That's a number that's hard to believe but this month marks five years since the EpiMonitor published its first COVID-19 article. This month we begin a new series to look back on what we were all thinking on a month-by-month basis during the early days of the pandemic.

In addition, we have a piece that talks about the current chaos in Washington and what we can do as public health professionals - remembering that Power Also Comes from the Bottom Up. You'll also find a thought provoking article that discusses talking about vaccination across the political divide.

As always, we continue to provide you with our popular monthly crossword feature, Notes on People, an overview of what we read from the public media, and a listing of upcoming epidemiology events.

Finally, don't miss the Job Bank offerings this month. We have some fantastic opportunities advertised on our website.

Did you miss last month’s issue? Read it here: https://tinyurl.com/y9xkzudw or here: https://tinyurl.com/ck3p9pe3

In This Issue -2-

Power Also Comes from the Bottom Up

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What We're Reading

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Interview: How to Discuss Vaccines Amid the Partisan Divide

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Notes on People

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From the Archives:

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Near Term Event Calendar

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Marketplace

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Marketplace – Jobs & Events

What Were We Thinking at the Start of COVID -13-

Crossword

March 2025

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Volume Forty Six •

Number Three

Power Also Comes From The Bottom Up Don't forget you have it Author: Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH

and what this means for public health and our communities. But one thing is known: We aren’t powerless.

NOTE: This article was originally published on January 28, 2025 by Your Local Epidemiologist on Substack. As the chaos in Washington, D.C. continues to grow we felt it appropriate to reprint this piece.

What we know and what we don’t know Federal grants are the backbone of America’s public service system.

Federal grants aren’t just funding lab scientists in white coats (although they are critical, too); they underpin the services millions of Americans rely on daily. Suicide hotlines, domestic violence shelters, opioid treatment centers, meals for seniors, cancer survivor support programs.

Medicaid payment systems were turned off today—41% of all births in the U.S. are covered

by Medicaid. If organizations don’t have a cash reserve and can’t find funding elsewhere in the interim, they will (or already have) closed their doors. The lives of people hang in the balance.

Innovation hangs in the balance. Our economy hangs in the balance.

Today [January 27, 2025] felt like waiting for a nuclear bomb to go off in public service. The new administration released a memo to freeze $3 trillion in federal grants, pausing activities to ensure alignment with Presidential priorities. The order went into effect at 5 p.m.

ET, but a D.C. judge blocked it thereafter.

While the White House tried to clarify that this freeze won’t impact all grants—excluding some individual programs like student loans— its ambiguity, murky terms, and far-reaching implications created a cruel void of uncertainty and chaos among academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, public health departments, and small businesses. What counts and what doesn’t? What will be available when a domestic violence survivor shows up tonight? Many answers to these questions are still in limbo.

Counterbalances are at play. Many legal motions are being filed. For example, the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, and small businesses filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to block the funding pause. A D.C. judge ruled tonight to block the order. Academic institutions, Congress, professional organizations, and advocacy groups were mobilized and organized.

This is all working mostly behind the scenes.

This follows days of unsettling developments: CDC’s halting communication with the WHO, the freezing of all foreign aid, the reclassification of federal workers so they are easier to fire, uncertainty with NIH grants, the firing of entire DEI teams, offering 2 million federal workers buyouts, and more.

Many people support this change. To them, the system feels broken—elitist, inefficient, and unresponsive. Trust in institutions has eroded over decades. And from their perspective, the

We’re left with more questions than answers about what’s been impacted, what’s next,

- Power cont'd on page 3

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- Power cont'd from page 2 only way to fix it is to break it.

isn’t reform; it’s reckless gambling. And it’s about overwhelming the system. If you attack one program at a time, advocates can organize and fight. But by burning everything down at once, there’s no single target, no clear way for coalitions to unite. It creates chaos, forces compromises, and settles for partial “wins.”

The uncertainty is vast, and much remains unanswered: 1. How long will the chaos last? Is this a 4year thing or a 100-day thing? Some programs, like Medicaid processing, will get rebooted quickly. But others may stay offline far longer, tangled in political battles and legal systems.

What can you do The destabilization isn’t a side effect; it’s the point. Russ Vought, a key architect of this freeze, said plainly during his confirmation, “I want people to feel the pain.” And we do. But we’re not powerless. Even amid exhaustion, fear, and uncertainty, we have a role to play.

2. Who will have the energy to fight? After years of crisis—pandemic, political upheaval, and economic strain—many are exhausted. Is it safer to keep your head down and focus on selfpreservation, or do you muster the stamina to push back?

Here’s how you can take action: 1. Share your story I put together a survey with the help of many people today. We want to hear how this federal grant freeze impacts you, your organization, and the people you serve. Please take a moment to complete this anonymous survey and help us humanize the data with real stories.

CLICK HERE

3. What happens to communities the federal government serves? The stakes couldn’t be higher. These aren’t just bureaucratic hiccups; lives are on the line.

The perfect storm This is the kind of chaos that thrives in a fractured world. Burnout leaves us too tired to organize. Threat of retribution makes us fearful.

Expertise is siloed—no one can be an expert on everything, and no single team can fight every battle at once. Meanwhile, opportunists—some rising out of narcissism and others out of ideology—seize this moment to dismantle systems they view as broken, elitist, or unresponsive.

2. Advocate for transparency Contact your representatives and let them know the stakes. Be clear about how this freeze disrupts essential services in your community.

3. Strengthen local networks Collaborate with community leaders, organizations, and coalitions to find temporary solutions for gaps. Grassroots efforts can often fill critical voids.

I’ve spent years working inside public health systems, fixing what’s broken from within. I know these systems need reform. But reform requires vision, patience, and a plan. Blowing everything up overnight—without a roadmap—

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- Power cont'd from page 3 4. Stay informed and share accurate information Rumors thrives in chaos. Stay grounded in verified facts and help others in your network do the same.

moment to rise. Find the sweet spot: do what you can, where you can, with the energy you have. Even small actions—sharing a story, making a call, connecting with others—can ripple outward.

5. Support counterbalances Legal challenges, advocacy groups, and organizations are pushing back. Lend your voice and support to these efforts.

Bottom line The firehose of information and change—and the chaos it creates—is intentional. But power isn’t just top-down. It’s also bottom-up. Share stories on the ground, focus on what we can control, strategize, mobilize, and support counterbalances.

The sweet spot between self-preservation and action This moment demands balance. We can’t fight every battle, and no one has infinite energy. For many, the instinct is to put their heads down and focus on survival—and that’s okay. For those with the capacity to act, this is the

Let’s ensure the voices of those most affected are heard, and that we have a plan for rebuilding when the dust settles. ■

Do you want to read more content like this? This piece was reprinted from Substack.

YLE can be found here: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/

Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. YLE reaches more than 305,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members.

To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade your existing subscription: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/

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- Epi Brief cont'd on page 5

How to Discuss Vaccines Amid the Partisan Divide Biostatistician Jeffrey Morris says effective dialogue requires an awareness of how politics shape a person’s beliefs.

Interviewer: Sarah Talpos NOTE: This interview was originally printed by Undark Magazine on January 9, 2025 and we thank then for their permission to reprint.

What’s the best way to discuss vaccines with a politically polarized public? Jeffrey Morris has been considering this question since the Covid-19 pandemic, when he created a dedicated blog and ramped up his use of X (formerly Twitter) in an effort to pass along trustworthy information about the new virus. He eventually came to focus on Covid-19 vaccines, in part because so many false claims were circulating about them online.

As a biostatistician, Morris was well-positioned to explain statistical concepts and techniques employed in vaccine studies. But good communication requires more than data, he said.

Social media and artificial-intelligence algorithms have helped create opposing echo chambers, in which individuals aligned with one group may view members of another group with distrust or even hostility. Particularly under these conditions, Morris says, effective dialogue requires respect, transparency, a willingness to acknowledge uncertainty, and an awareness of how politics and partisanship can shape a person’s beliefs.

Morris’ views seem particularly timely given the contentious atmosphere surrounding Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to become the next head of the Department of Health and Human Services. “My primary concern is that the HHS director, whoever it is, follows the principles of

Jeffrey S. Morris, PhD University of Pennsylvania - Director, Biostatistics

evidence-based science,” Morris said. “To me that means using all of the best available evidence from the existing studies and data to guide practice and recommendations.”

Morris recently published a commentary in the American Journal of Epidemiology that summarizes the evidence about the effectiveness of Covid-19 mRNA vaccines over time and that discusses some of the fallacies that have proliferated online. He is currently the director of the Division of Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Our interview was conducted over Zoom and has been edited for length and clarity.

Undark: You’re a biostatistician, which is not a job one usually associates with politics. Yet you’ve suggested it’s important for people who

- Discuss cont'd on page 6

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Discuss cont'd from page 5 work in public health to be thoughtful about politics and political polarization when communicating about vaccines. Can you elaborate?

I think we would be in a stronger position regarding public trust if policy makers, the media, and the scientific community had done a better job of listening to those questions, responding objectively with evidence-based answers, openly acknowledging the uncertainties in our knowledge, and the potential limitations of the policies, and most importantly, showing respect for those asking the questions.

Jeffrey Morris: People’s political views have a major impact on what information is presented to them and how they frame that information.

Because of this, when it comes to scientific communication of public health messages, politics must be taken into account. There’s a few principles that I think we need to keep in mind.

The impatient and aggressive responses to these questions only deepened polarization and division, driving people into the arms of those spreading false information, thereby legitimizing and empowering them.

First, we should all self-scout and be mindful of our own political beliefs and views that could bias how we view and interpret the emerging data, and for scientists to be disciplined to try to remove that bias and to see the data as objectively as possible.

UD: A clear majority of Americans, 69 percent, say that it’s extremely or very important for children to be vaccinated. But this number has fallen by 25 percentage points since 2001.

What do you think is driving the decline?

Second, I think scientists, especially those involved in scientific communication, should be very careful not to overtly identify themselves with one political side or the other. In my opinion, it would be best if those individuals keep their political views private, but it’s critical to at least avoid blatant partisan comments, and especially to not attack individuals they perceive to be on the other political side. Especially in matters of public health, it’s crucial to effectively engage the entire society, as we can’t afford to alienate half the population by being perceived as partisan.

JM: It’s difficult to know for certain, but there’s a number of likely factors that I think are important here. First of all, the past 25 years have been characterized by the emergence and organization of anti-vaccine activism, partially fueled by the later retracted Wakefield paper. [That paper, which claimed to show a link between vaccines and autism, was found to be incorrect and fraudulent. Subsequent studies have found no such link.]

Looking at the report you cited, it’s interesting that 15 of the 25-point decline has occurred just since the beginning of the pandemic. It’s clear that pandemic-associated factors have accelerated this decline. So if we think about the factors: the rapid development, approval, and deployment of Covid vaccines raised significant concerns to many, as did the fact that some of these vaccines utilize cutting-edge technologies that had not previously been publicly

Third, I think we need to understand and account for the political diversity of our society in our scientific communication and our public health messaging. During the pandemic, I frequently witnessed people being silenced for asking legitimate questions about matters such as varying Covid risks across different groups, the potential collateral effects of mitigation policies, the immunity from previous infections, and vaccine safety — often because their inquiries were linked to specific political or policy perspectives.

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Discuss cont'd from page 6 disseminated. I think that’s one factor.

these messages using randomized designs within the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge survey, or ASAPH. This study uses a diverse cohort of individuals from across the political spectrum to assess beliefs and understanding and then utilizes randomization to assess the effectiveness of particular scientific communication strategies.

But I also believe that the widespread mandates for these vaccines strongly contributed to this backlash. Had they been voluntary, individuals with serious concerns could have simply chosen to decline them. However, the sense of being coerced into taking the vaccines heightened fear and anxiety, fostering an environment that allowed vaccine skepticism to grow. These factors also heightened the visibility and influence of vaccine skeptics, including not only those who raise legitimate questions and concerns, but also those spreading false claims and exaggerating the vaccines’ harms.

Just trying to rigorously evaluate scientific communication itself — using randomized studies and careful cohort designs — is, to me, very interesting and promising.

UD: I think you had spoken to me once before about how there’s a tendency, sometimes, to simplify messaging around vaccines so that it’s understood by everyone, but that there may be a desire for more sophisticated levels of information.

I also believe the false claims about Covid vaccines, which continue to circulate and thrive on social media, have contributed to a decline of trust in vaccines. This opposition now seems to have expanded more broadly to include all vaccines.

JM: Yes, actually, I think part of what has contributed to some of the confusion and maybe even loss of trust among the public has been oversimplification of messaging, either by media or by scientific communicators. Sometimes that’s done to try to promote practices and recommendations that they determine to be good for the public health.

It’s also worth noting that the survey you cited also highlights an escalating political divide on this issue, further reinforcing the concerns I raised earlier about political influence and selective information.

UD: Can you tell me about the work that you’re doing with the Annenberg Public Policy Center?

They want to keep the message simple because they think that has the best chance of being understood. But I think that this can kind of backfire.

JM: I’m working with them to help prepare materials to educate the public about the vaccine safety monitoring systems used in the USA, including passive reporting systems like VAERS to identify potential safety signals, as well as active reporting systems looking at medical records and claims data to test and validate them. There’s been a great deal of misunderstanding of these systems and their nuances, much of it related to statistical aspects of how to properly interpret the data from the various systems.

We’re also working to study the effectiveness of

Much of the public in the U.S. is quite sophisticated and educated. If they feel like they’re being talked down to, or talked to like children — and especially if nuances that are easily found online are ignored and withheld from the public, the way parents might withhold more difficult-to-explain information from a child — this contributes to the erosion of trust.

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Discuss cont'd from page 7 In controversial issues, in newly emerging issues, where there’s considerable uncertainty — where there’s real risks, where there’s real concerns — transparency is critical to show the public that nothing is being hidden. Everything is being looked at.

I understand the concern that once you acknowledge a risk, it’s akin to leaving a door cracked, and some people will come and try and kick that door open. For example, if there’s a new vaccine that has a rare but serious risk in some subgroup. This becomes known to scientists and published but some people are hesitant to talk too much about it because some will exaggerate that risk and try and use that to disproportionately criticize the vaccines. But coming back to that main point, I think it’s critical for scientific communication to be done as transparently and as completely as possible.

UD: Prominent public health officials have expressed concern about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for head of Health and Human Services, particularly with regard to his views on vaccines. Do you share these concerns?

it’s also important that all existing scientific knowledge be taken into account, and in particular, that all the available literature needs to be considered when identifying the research gaps that need to be addressed and prioritized, or any policies and recommendations that they think need to be revisited.

UD: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

JM: I think if you have people that are both wellintentioned making good faith arguments about what they really believe, and they respect each other, and they’re curious to understand the other perspective, I think it’s possible for any two people to talk about any issue, no matter how controversial.

I think people can even talk about politics and religion in this manner, if they’re disciplined to have respect for the other person, to be curious about what they believe, and to not just try and attack them and tell them they’re wrong, but understand what they believe and learn from them. Then it’s fair enough for you to say, “I agree with this part, but this is the part I disagree with.”

JM: I would be concerned if there was any move to discontinue any of the current childhood vaccines, or to discourage parents from vaccinating their children, either directly or indirectly, since this could invite dangerous childhood diseases that have been previously eradicated and controlled to return.

If we talk that way to each other — if we dealt that way with the uncertainty of accruing scientific knowledge — I think we would all discover the truth together, and we would be unified in it. But that process and discourse, especially in modern society, is more and more rare to see. ■

I support any efforts to promote rigorous studies to answer important unanswered questions. But

For more content like this, please visit UnDark at: https://undark.org/latest-from-undark/#

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or on Instagram at: @epimonitor -8-

From Our Archives A look back at the early days of COVID-19 What it means and why it matters EDITOR'S NOTE: As we have now reached the 5th anniversary of the initial days of our awareness of COVID19, it seemed appropriate to begin looking back at what we knew, when we knew it and how our thoughts evolved over the early months of the pandemic. Accordingly, we will be reprinting our articles from that period over the next few months. We welcome your comments and suggestions about what you would like to see.

Amidst Uncertainty, Epidemiology Modellers Make The Case For Social Distancing Measures Most Drastic Strategy Seen As The Only Option Effectiveness Still In Doubt Author: Roger Bernier, PhD, MPH Developments in the current COVID-19 pandemic are happening rapidly as case counts are doubling every several days and policy interventions are being modified to keep pace with new information about how this virus behaves or is likely to behave.

Modelling A modelling study which reportedly had significant influence on decision making about social distancing measures in Great Britain and the United States was released on March 16 by a COVID-19 Response Team at the Imperial College in London. Entitled “Impact of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand”, the paper characterizes the public health threat as “the most serious seen in a respiratory virus since the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic.” It was authored by Neil Ferguson and 29 coauthors from the various centers and institutes at the Imperial College.

Unmitigated Pandemic Impact Without putting into place effective control measures, the pandemic is predicted to cause 2.2 million deaths in the US, peaking this coming summer, and about a quarter of that number (510,000 deaths) in Great Britain, peaking a bit earlier. Of special concern is that this number of cases creates a demand for critical care beds that exceeds 30 times the current maximum bed capacity in both countries.

Mitigation Vs Suppression With control measures possible, the report makes a distinction between mitigation and suppression strategies. Mitigation seeks to slow but not stop virus spread in an effort to buy time for the healthcare system to care for patients. Suppression seeks to reverse the increasing number of cases and to keep case numbers low.

- Pandemic cont'd on page 9

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-Pandemic cont'd from page 9 Perhaps the most significant finding in the report, according to the authors, is that mitigation strategies still result in a need for hospital beds that is 8 times greater than the existing surge capacity. More alarming, mitigation alone still allows for 250,000 deaths in the UK and 1.1-1.2 million in the US. “We therefore conclude that epidemic suppression is the only viable strategy at the current time,” says the report, for countries that can achieve it.

2) home isolation of cases and household quarantine of their family members, and possibly 3) school and university closures.

Under their model, long term sustained social distancing means that all households reduce contact outside the household, school, or workplace by 75%. In this scenario, household contact rates are assumed to increase by 25%.

Can it be done?

The authors conclude that it will be necessary for jurisdictions to layer multiple interventions and that “The choice of interventions ultimately depends on the relative feasibility of their implementation and their likely effectiveness in different social contexts.”

The feasibility of such an all-out suppression strategy is very much in question, not only because of its inherent challenges but because it must be implemented for a long period of time until a vaccine becomes available.

Otherwise, removing the austere measures would be likely to produce a rebound in transmission. But even if it succeeds, suppression may not completely protect the most vulnerable and deaths could still be high, according to the report.

The authors admit making their recommendation without consideration of ethical, indirect adverse health, and economic consequences that might be entailed by a suppression strategy. Saving lives from coronavirus death is prioritized above all else.

Conclusion

Somber Note The report ends on a somber note: “…it is not at all certain that suppression will succeed long term; no public health intervention with such disruptive effects on society has been previously attempted for such a long duration of time. How populations and societies will respond remains unclear.” ■

Proposed Interventions - Pandemic cont'd on page 11

Since the feasibility of effectively implementing suppression strategies remains an open question, it is important to consider what interventions are involved in a suppression strategy. According to Ferguson and colleagues, suppression requires 1) long term sustained social distancing of the entire population,

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-Pandemic cont'd from page 10

Epidemiologists In The News The Public Now Knows What Epidemiologists Do The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented attention to epidemiologists and their work. All of a sudden the world knows who epidemiologists are and what they do.

Whether on television, newspapers, or social media, epidemiologists are being interviewed constantly to get their opinions about various characteristics of the SARS CoV-2 virus causing the pandemic and potential control measures.

Old acquaintances that have fallen out of touch are reconnecting with their epidemiologist

Justin Lessler

friends or former neighbors to “get their take” on the pandemic. One benefit of all this attention--No more guesses about epidemiologists being skin doctors.

The Epidemiology Monitor has collected a sample of these news items involving epidemiologists to give readers a sample of the more visible public role being played by epidemiologists everywhere.

Interviewed in the New Yorker: Justin Lessler, associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Topics covered are the ways in which our understanding of the pandemic has improved, what we can learn from different governments’ responses, and why older adults seem to be more at risk of serious illness. “I would definitely say that what China has been able to accomplish has been quite impressive,” said Lessler. LINK: http://bit.ly/2J1wXco

Point-Counterpoint: John Ioannidis Stanford professor of epidemiology and statistics and Marc Lipsitch Harvard professor of epidemiology recently showcased different perspectives on the COVID-19 epidemic in opinion pieces published in STAT.

John Ioannidis

Ioannidis’ article was entitled “A fiasco in the making?

As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data”. He raised concerns about decision making without good information. Lipsitch quickly contributed an opinion article whose title encapsulates his view, namely “We know enough now to act decisively against COVID-19.

Social distancing is a good place to start.”

LINKS: http://bit.ly/3a4dvHZ

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Marc Lipsitch

http://bit.ly/3be7JDQ - Pandemic cont'd on page 12

-Pandemic cont'd from page 11

Eric Lofgren

Nina Fefferman

Nigel Paneth

Quoted in PC Gamer: Eric Lofgren (Washington State University) and Nina Fefferman (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) on the lessons learned from the “Corrupted Blood” outbreak in the game World of Warcraft. Both epidemiologists have written a paper on this topic published in Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2007 and are now working on coronavirus. "For me, it was a good illustration of how important it is to understand people's behaviors," Lofgren says. "When people react to public health emergencies, how those reactions really shape the course of things. We often view epidemics as these things that sort of happen to people. There's a virus and it's doing things. But really it's a virus that's spreading between people, and how people interact and behave and comply with authority figures, or don't, those are all very important things. And also that these things are very chaotic. You can't really predict 'oh yeah, everyone will quarantine. It'll be fine.' No, they won't."

Fefferman’s perspective from her earlier work is "It led me to think really deeply about how people perceive threats and how differences in that perception can change how they behave," she writes. "A lot of my work since then has been in trying to build models of the social construction of risk perception and I don't think I would have come to that as easily if I hadn't spent time thinking about the discussions WoW players had in real time about Corrupted Blood and how to act in the game based on the understanding they built from those discussions." LINK: http://bit.ly/2Uoeqfp Interviewed: Nigel Paneth, Michigan State University epidemiologist, in East Lansing Info, a non-profit citizen-run local news cooperative, about coronavirus. Asked if current responses to the pandemic are hysteria and overreaction, Paneth said the risk of COVID-19 cannot be overblown, stating that he had never seen such a public health threat in his life. He urged more social distancing and added that proactive communities can implement interventions that will spare them the worst outcomes of this pandemic. In this sense, local communities are in control of their level of success. LINK: http://bit.ly/2U2c3A4

Join EpiMonitor on our Facebook page at: https://bit.ly/2U29gUA or on Twitter at: @theEpimonitor

or on Instagram at: @epimonitor

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Epi Crossword Puzzle – March 2025 5 Years of Pandemic Memories . For an interactive online version go to: https://tinyurl.com/mvr3bxk8

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- Crossword Questions cont'd on page 16

-Crossword Questions cont'd from page 13 Across

Down

1. Grocery cashiers, nurses, police, drug store workers, truckers and others 7. Showing symptoms 11. Looks like a crown 13 . Stay at home 14 . Physical touching 16. Time of difficulty or danger 17 . Vaccine manufacturer 18 . Expansion 20 . Recently retired NIH head 21. Transfer blood to another person 22 . Worldwide disease spread 24 . First infected 25 . Abnormally high body temp 26 . ____ school 27. Automotive clutch manufacturing lines were repurposed to build these 30 . Likely to spread to others 31. Most Americans did this during COVID 33. These happened daily 34. Resistant to infection 39. Rules or principles 41. A bodily fluid 42. Medication 44. Disturbing experience 47. _____ protein 48. Extra inoculation 49. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome 50. City in China 51. Incorrect information 52. Suspension spread through air 53. This was rationed in homes and by stores 55. State of confusion

2.

Mask 3.

6 feet 4.

At risk of death 5.

Pass on 6.

Dispense 8.

Uncontrollable fear 9.

Spreading disease another person 10. Large gatherings 11. Keep something under control 12. Exposure to danger 14. Free from dirt or stains 15. Line on a graph 19. Sign of disease 23. Found on the grocery store floors 28. Separate 29. Likely to spread rapidly 31. 5 letter NYT word game invented as a COVID distraction 32. ____ immunity 35. New vaccine type 36. Early tests used these 37. Existing alone 38. Contained group of people 40. Clean something to destroy bacteria 43. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 45. Retired NIAID head 46. Vaccine ________ 47. ________ checks 54. Masks, gowns & gloves

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What We're Reading This Month Editor's Note: All of us are confronted with more material than we can possibly hope to digest each month.

However, that doesn't mean that we should miss some of the articles that appear in the public media on topics of interest to the epi community. The EpiMonitor curates a monthly list of some of the best articles we've encountered in the past month. See something you think others would like to read? Please send us a link at info@epimonitor.net and we'll include it in the next month.

Washington DC Chaos ♦ Trump's science cuts have thrown the research world into chaos (Bloomberg via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/p65hz5ud ♦ Johns Hopkins Slashes More Than 2,000 Jobs Due to USAID Cuts (WSJ via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/mvrp3jrp ♦ Harvard announces hiring freeze (Harvard Magazine) https://tinyurl.com/3wvz5dwr ♦ ‘Deadly consequences’: Health agencies reel from thousands of job cuts while critical research grants remain on hold (CNN) https://tinyurl.com/yw2tkw4c ♦ US stops sharing flu data with WHO amidst one of its worst flu seasons (New Scientistt via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/yt783mtm ♦ CDC Director nomination withdrawn (Fox5 Atlanta) https://tinyurl.com/ycs6epz5 ♦ Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and former Texas Congressman Michael Burgess floated for CDC director https://tinyurl.com/2y4t38rn

Public Health Topics ♦ 5 years since the pandemic started, long COVID patients are still hoping for a cure (NPR) https://tinyurl.com/yzjjxcn8

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- Reading cont'd on page 16

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Public Health Topics, cont. ♦ Am I Protected Against Measles? It Might Depend On When You Were Born (Slate) https://tinyurl.com/576r5ffd ♦ The virus that could start the next pandemic is already here (New York Magazine) https://tinyurl.com/5f5a7e6p ♦ A small study of COVID vaccine aftereffects triggers a political and scientific storm (LA Times via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/5ckra4m8 ♦ During the last major measles outbreaks in the U.S., it took extraordinary measures to stop the spread (CNN) https://tinyurl.com/2vz8nefd ♦ There is no imminent infectious disease crisis at the border (STAT via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/yc2dxy85 ♦ As childhood vaccination rates slide in Canada, health-care providers look for new ways to fight skepticism (Globe and Mail via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/z4jknfjd ♦ US reports first outbreak of deadly H7N9 bird flu since 2017 (Reuters via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/2ytk4c8d ♦ New strain of bird flu wipes out Mississippi poultry farm; human flu may offer immunity (LA Times via AppleNews) https://tinyurl.com/u6feduh2 ♦ 5 years since the pandemic started, long COVID patients are still hoping for a cure (NPR) https://tinyurl.com/yzjjxcn8 ♦ How vulnerable might humans be to bird flu? Scientists see hope in existing immunity (NPR) https://tinyurl.com/26en285k

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Notes on People Do you have news about yourself, a colleague, or a student?

Please help The Epidemiology Monitor keep the community informed by sending relevant news to us at this address for inclusion in our next issue. people@epimonitor.net

Apppointed: LSU has appointed Dr. Don Mercante as the new Program Director for the Biostatistics and Data Science Program. Currently, he is a Professor of Biostatistics at the LSU School of Public Health, where he has been a cornerstone of the faculty. His academic involvement includes his roles as a conjoint Professor in the Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, and the School of Nursing, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Experimental Statistics at LSU Baton Rouge. He also leads the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Key Component at LSUHSC. Appointed: Washington University St. Louis has announced Jing Wang, PhD, professor of biostatistics, has been appointed the director of the Biostatistics Consulting Service at the Institute for Informatics, Data Science, and Biostatistics (I²DB). As director, Dr. Wang will lead the Biostatistics Consulting Service, which provides biostatistical consultation across a wide range of areas.

These include the statistical design of experiments and clinical trials, protocol development, database management, data analysis, and interpretation of results.

Named: The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) has named Gonzalo Bearman, MD, MPH, chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, the inaugural editor-in-chief of its new journal, Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology (ASHE). ASHE will be the companion journal to SHEA’s Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE), published in partnership with Cambridge University Press

Named: The new administration has selected Gerald Parker, a veterinarian and former top-ranking federal health official, to head the White House's pandemic office, two U.S. officials tell CBS News. Congress created the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy after the COVID19 pandemic. Parker was previously the associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M University. He was also recently head of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity under the Biden administration.

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Notes on People, con’t from page 17 Do you have news about yourself, a colleague, or a student?

Please help The Epidemiology Monitor keep the community informed by sending relevant news to us at this address for inclusion in our next issue. people@epimonitor.net

Named: Karen Edwards, a genetic epidemiologist, has been appointed the chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health (UW SPH). Edwards received her Ph.D. from the UW Department of Epidemiology and was on the UW SPH faculty for 15 years.

During her time at the UW, she was promoted to full professor and served as director of the Institute for Public Health Genetics. For the last decade, Edwards has been a tenured full professor in the Department of Epidemiology at University of California, Irvine (UCI), where she held several leadership roles.

Awarded: Dr. Yize Zhao, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH),has received the IMS Thelma and Marvin Zelen Emerging Women Leaders in Data Science Award for her fundamental contributions to analytical methods and applications in medical imaging, neuroscience, psychiatry, and mental health. The award is given out annually by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics to three women data scientists who are within 10 years of having completed their PhD. Appointed: Nova Scotia Health has announce that Dr. Mark Asbridge has been appointed Head of the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology. This appointment is for a five-year term. Dr. Asbridge is a Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and the Department of Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University. Prior to joining Dalhousie, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, where he was a recipient of the H. David Archibald Fellowship in Addiction Studies, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Retired: Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, announced in a statement his retirement as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A physician-geneticist, Dr. Collins took office as the 16th NIH Director on August 17, 2009, after being appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In 2017, he was asked to continue in his role by President Trump, and in 2021, by President Biden. Prior to becoming NIH Director, Dr. Collins served as the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute from 1993 to 2008, where he led the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book.

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Notes on People, con’t from page 18 Do you have news about yourself, a colleague, or a student?

Please help The Epidemiology Monitor keep the community informed by sending relevant news to us at this address for inclusion in our next issue. people@epimonitor.net

Appointed: Donald Warne, MD, MPH was appointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation board of directors in January.

Warne is the co-director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Indigenous Health and a professor at the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Appointed: Colorado School of Public Health has announced Dr. Elizabeth Brickley will become the new head of the Center for Global Health, effective July 1, 2025. Brickley is currently a Professor in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology & International Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She leads LSHTM’s Health Equity Action Lab, a diverse interdisciplinary team committed to conducting policy-relevant, community-engaged research to improve health equity worldwide.

Withdrawn: The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Dr. David Weldon, a former Florida congressman, to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the Associated Press. The decision came just before a scheduled Senate confirmation hearing, following concerns over his stance on vaccines and a lack of support in the Senate.

Appointed: The Ohio State University has selected Paula H. Song as its next College of Public Health dean, effective July 9, pending Board of Trustees approval. Since 2020, Song has served as the Richard M. Bracken Chair of the Department of Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where she is also a professor. While at VCU, she served as interim dean of the College of Health Professions from 2023-24. Previously, she served as the director of residential master’s programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was an associate professor.

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Near Term Epidemiology Event Calendar Every December The Epidemiology Monitor dedicates that issue to a calendar of events for the upcoming year. However that often means we don't have full information for events later in the upcoming year. Thus an online copy exists on our website that is updated regularly.

To view the full year please go to: http://www.epimonitor.net/Events The events that we are aware of for the next month follow below.

April 2025 April 3-4 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/2jd9m8 Title: Cancer Retreat 2025 Sponsor: Erasmus MC Cancer Institute Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands April 5 Type: Meeting Title: 11th Annual NYC Epidemiology Forum Sponsor: Multiple Location: New York, NY

Web:

https://tinyurl.com/5n7pebnh

April 6-8 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/3vhfx9nz Title: Annual Conference - American Society of Preventive Oncology Sponsor: ASPO Location: Philadelphia, PA April 7-9 Type: Conference Web: Title: RISE Conference on Social Determinants of Health Sponsor: RISE Health Location: Louisville, KY

https://tinyurl.com/56fc85hu

April 9-11 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/ytdbndtw Title: Genomics of Rare Disease Sponsor: Wellcome Connecting Science Location: Hinxton, England April 10-13 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/2wrxk9fr Title: 2025 Annual Conference - Population Association of America Sponsor: PAA Location: Washington, DC April 11-15 Type: Conference Title: ESCMID Global 2025 Sponsor: ESCMID Location: Vienna, Austria

Web:

https://tinyurl.com/y2e6s2ad

April 14-16 Type: Short Course Web: http://tinyurl.com/msdrnpt2 Title: Cardiovascular Epidemiology Sponsor: Erasmus MC Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/kkusp9c4 April 16-18 Title: SOPHE 2025 Sponsor: Society for Health Education Location: Long Beach, CA April 21-24

Type:

Conference

-20Web:

https://bit.ly/3HFdFJd

April 2025 continued April 22-25 Type: Conference Web: Title: Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference Sponsor: CDC Location: Atlanta, GA

https://tinyurl.com/2877hcbc

April 23-24 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/3dv5rprz Title: NCUIH 2025 Annual Conference Sponsor: National Council of Urban Indian Health Location: Washington, DC April 23-25 Type: Meeting Web: https://tinyurl.com/pzyk3pp4 Title: 2025 Annual Oregon Epidemiologists' Meeting Sponsor: Oregon Health Authority Location: Sunriver, OR April 25-30 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/bdfcwy8m Title: 2025 Annual Meeting - American Association for Cancer Research Sponsor: AACR Location: Chicago, IL April 27-30 Type: Conference Web: https://bit.ly/3BHaIUI Title: SHEA (Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) Spring 2025 Sponsor: SHEA Location: Championsgate, FL Apr 28 – May 2 Type: Short Course Title: Infectious Diseases in Adults Sponsor: Harvard University Location: Virtual

Web:

https://tinyurl.com/yp9j9ade

Apr 28 – May 2 Type: Short Course Web: http://tinyurl.com/3y8ejd74 Title: Designing and Conducting Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trials Sponsor: University of Bristol Location: Virtual Apr 29 – May 1 Type: Conference Web: https://bit.ly/3WuSZrQ Title: Public Health 2025 Sponsor: Canadian Public Health Association Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Type: Conference Web: https://bit.ly/3oLZ2Kz Apr 29 – May 2 Title: NACCHO Preparedness Summit 2025 Sponsor: Multiple Location: San Antonio, TX Apr 30 – May 2 Type: Meeting Web: https://tinyurl.com/bhzrp9t7 Title: 2025 Public Health Partnership Conference Sponsor: NY State Public Health Associates Location: Ithaca, NY

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April 2025 continued Apr 30 – May 2 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/2cbk7y2r Title: 95th Georgia Public Health Association Annual Conference Sponsor: GPHA Location: Jekyll Island, GA Apr 30 – May 2 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/4829ws8e Title: 5th IMA and OR Society Conference on Mathematics of Operational Research Sponsor: Institute of Mathematics & Its Applications Location: Birmingham, England April TBD Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/6ka7wvuj Title: Joint Meeting ADAM / European Dermato-Epi Network Sponsor: European Dermato-Epidemiology Network (EDEN) Location: April TBD Type: Conference Title: Annual Mid-Year ISPE Conference Sponsor: ISPE Location:

Web:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzmtjmb

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May 2025 May 1-2 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/58z2zf37 Title: 7th International Molecular Pathological Epidemiology (MPE) Meeting Sponsor: Multiple Location: Buffalo, NY May 4-6 Type: Conference Web: Title: Health Effects Institute Annual Conference 2025 Sponsor: HEI Location: Philadelphia, PA

https://tinyurl.com/bddezfxu

May 5-7 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/4f8f6w8k Title: 2025 Annual Conference on Vaccinology Research Sponsor: National Foundation for Infectious Diseases Location: Washington, DC May 5-8 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/mtepy6sf Title: APHL 2025 Annual Conference Sponsor: Association of Public Health Laboratories Location: Portland, OR May 5-8 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/4suhn6ef Title: Preventive Medicine 2025 Sponsor: American College of Preventive Medicine Location: Seattle, WA May 7-9 Type: Short Course Web: https://bit.ly/2C4g1PE Title: Quality of Life Measurement Sponsor: Erasmus MC Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands May 7-16 Type: Short Course Web: http://tinyurl.com/4wkbwcu3 Title: Sustainable Public Health Sponsor: Erasmus MC Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands May 9-11 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/3359hpry Title: The 10th Workshop on Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Sponsor: National Science Foundation & Georgia State University Location: Atlanta, GA May 9-13 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/2hh5s3ys Title: 50th Annual Kettil Brunn Society Meeting Sponsor: Kettil Brunn Society Location: Glasgow, Scotland May 9-16 Type: Short Course Web: https://tinyurl.com/2na5343d Title: Low Input Epigenomics Sponsor: Wellcome Connecting Science Location: Hinxton, England

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May 2025 continued May 12-16 Type: Short Course Web: Title: Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods Sponsor: University of Bristol Location: Virtual

http://tinyurl.com/4xwhe3y9

May 13-15 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/bdfjzucc Title: 101st Annual Education Conference Sponsor: Texas Public Health Association Location: Brownsville, TX May 13-16 Type: Conference Web: http://bit.ly/2DXzS3d Title: INTEREST 2025 Sponsor: IeDE (Intl Epi Databases to Evaluate AIDS Location: Windhoek, Namibia May 16 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/a7ektvku Title: Conference on Neglected Tropical Diseases Sponsor: Academic Medical Education Inc Location: Windhoek, Namibia May 18-21 Type: Conference Web: https://bit.ly/3FBbwf3 th Title: 46 Annual Meeting Sponsor: Society for Clinical Trials Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada May 19-20 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/4jhnbjbz Title: Health Equity Conference Sponsor: National Rural Health Association Location: Atlanta, GA May 19-21 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/mrvwmakz Title: North Dakota Public Health Conference Sponsor: North Dakota Health Partners Location: Bismark, ND May 19-22 Type: Conference Title: Accelerating Health Equity Sponsor: Multiple Location: Atlanta, GA

Web:

https://bit.ly/3Fz1F9t

May 19-23 Type: Short Course Web: https://bit.ly/32uyVPE Title: Causal Inference for Assessing Effectiveness in Real World Data and Clinical Trials Sponsor: UMIT Location: Tirol, Austria May 19-27 Type: Conference Title: 78th World Health Assembly Sponsor: WHO Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Web:

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https://bit.ly/321Yo2B

May 2025 continued May 19-28 Type: Short Course Web: https://bit.ly/3YwW6kG Title: Missing Values in Clinical Research Sponsor: Erasmus MC Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands May 19 – June 6 Type: Summer Program Web: http://bit.ly/2P1VUrR Title: Summer Public Health Institute Sponsor: University of Minnesota Location: Minneapolis, MN May 19 – Jun 27 Type: Summer Program Web: https://tinyurl.com/4vhys5vn Title: 2025 Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science Sponsor: Florida Atlantic University Location: Boca Raton, FL May 20-22 Type: Conference Web: Title: 2025 Wisconsin Public Health Conference Sponsor: WPHA Location: Milwaukee, WI & Virtual

https://tinyurl.com/4wj8ht4h

May 20-23 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/ys643ycx Title: 48th Annual Rural Health Conference Sponsor: National Rural Health Association Location: Atlanta, GA May 21-23 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/8hbsdxtw Title: STATGEN 2025: Conference on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics Sponsor: American Statistical Association (ASA) Location: Minneapolis, MN May 21-23 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/y8hynnxz Title: Applied Bioinformatics & Public Health Microbiology Sponsor: Wellcome Connecting Science Location: Hinxton, England & Virtual May 22-24 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/8r6wpubm Title: 3rd Intl Summit on Public Health & Preventive Medicine Sponsor: Spectrum Conferences Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands May 25-28 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/4n9vezb8 Title: 2025 SSC Annual Meeting Sponsor: Statistical Society of Canada Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada May 27-30 Type: Conference Web: https://tinyurl.com/mr6jbsxj Title: 2025 SPR Annual Conference Sponsor: Society for Prevention Research Location: Seattle, WA

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May 2025 continued May 28-30 Type: Conference Web: Title: Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium Conference Sponsor: BTEC Location: Durham, NC

https://tinyurl.com/2s36x8bn

May – June TBD Type: Summer Program Web: http://bit.ly/38mW6tl Title: 101st Annual Education Conference Sponsor: Summer Institutes in Global Health Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada & Virtual

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The Epidemiology Monitor ISSN (2833-1710) is published monthly

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