NTI: COVID-19 Frontline Guide for Local Decision-Makers

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Successful suppression of COVID-19 in the United States will require urgent and decisive action by state, local, and community leaders across the country.  To support effective decision-making, top global health security leaders have released a COVID-19 Frontline Guide.  Developed in response to calls from local governments for more information on how to protect their communities, the online tool features eight indicators of progress for self-assessment and seven key actions that each include checklists of decision points.

The guide provides a framework to help local leaders establish effective strategies to fight the outbreak, both by reducing transmission of the disease and by supporting their communities effectively. 

The website and guide will be discussed with the authors at an online webinar on Tuesday, March 31 at 12:30 pm ET.  Register here for details on participating.   

The contents of the COVID-19 Frontline Guide are grounded in existing guidance from U.S. and global authorities, public health research findings, and lessons observed from countries that have been battling COVID-19 since January 2020. It is intended to complement, but not supplant, guidance from global, federal, and local public health and other authorities.

The guide, available at www.COVID-Local.org, is being developed through an iterative process and will be further refined and developed as local leaders share their feedback and experience.

The Frontline Guide is a joint project of the Global Biological Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the Center for Global Development, and the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security, in collaboration with Talus Analytics. 

"Even in prepared cities like Seattle, health systems are struggling to test patients and keep pace with growing caseloads. The specter of rapid community transmission and exponential growth is real and daunting," said NTI Vice President Dr. Beth Cameron.

Key Actions
The COVID-19 Frontline Guide highlights seven key actions, representing the proven points of action required by leaders and compiled by experts across the emergency response, health care, public health and health security fields. Each action includes a checklist of decision points:

1. Activate an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and establish a whole-of-community incident management structure
2. Understand the real-time spread of COVID-19 in the community
3. Slow and reduce transmission
4. Focus protection on high-risk groups
5. Reinforce and expand health system surge capacity to sustain healthcare operations and avoid high mortality
6. Expand risk communication and community engagement
7. Mitigate economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

Visit www.COVID-Local.org to explore the Frontline Guide for local decision-makers, download the site content, view situation updates on the COVID-19 response capacities, and more.

SOURCE NTI