Inside a transformed lab at Georgetown University, an international team of nearly two dozen analysts, epidemiologists and public health professionals is on the lookout for global health threats. In one corner, experts hunch over computer screens, combing through data logs. In the other, a feed of World Cup friendly matches streams directly onto a TV pitched outside a chemical hood. This is the Health Security Intelligence Operations Center, a data hub launched this month ahead of the FIFA World Cup.Director Rebecca Katz says the center acts as an early warning system. Her team tracks local wastewater sites, electronic records and international health alerts and condenses the information into daily reports for public health officials and FIFA decision-makers. The team covers a long list of viral threats — everything from influenza and measles to norovirus and Ebola. “We are providing evidence, we’re providing data, we’re providing early warning and then flagging for public health authorities when there is something that might require a response,” Katz said. “We’re partnering with other groups like Your Local Epidemiologist. They’re doing what we call ‘social listening,’ so they’re contributing information on surveillance, but also information that is best communicated to a much broader audience, including the general public.”With 6.5 million fans expected to gather in cities across North America, some doctors have warned that large-scale public health risks can quickly outpace monitoring and response efforts. Katz says the HSOC hopes to enhance those efforts.”What a lot of these entities struggle with is the sharing of information across jurisdictions and being able to integrate really diverse sets of information outside of their jurisdictions,” Katz said. “What we’re hoping to do is, in some ways, be a force multiplier and, in some ways, work in support of all those organizations.”Information from the HSOC is also being made available to the public. You can sign up for daily updates here.Watch more on the HSOC’s health risk monitoring during the World Cup:
Inside a transformed lab at Georgetown University, an international team of nearly two dozen analysts, epidemiologists and public health professionals is on the lookout for global health threats.
In one corner, experts hunch over computer screens, combing through data logs. In the other, a feed of World Cup friendly matches streams directly onto a TV pitched outside a chemical hood.
This is the Health Security Intelligence Operations Center, a data hub launched this month ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
Director Rebecca Katz says the center acts as an early warning system. Her team tracks local wastewater sites, electronic records and international health alerts and condenses the information into daily reports for public health officials and FIFA decision-makers. The team covers a long list of viral threats — everything from influenza and measles to norovirus and Ebola.
“We are providing evidence, we’re providing data, we’re providing early warning and then flagging for public health authorities when there is something that might require a response,” Katz said. “We’re partnering with other groups like Your Local Epidemiologist. They’re doing what we call ‘social listening,’ so they’re contributing information on surveillance, but also information that is best communicated to a much broader audience, including the general public.”
With 6.5 million fans expected to gather in cities across North America, some doctors have warned that large-scale public health risks can quickly outpace monitoring and response efforts.
Katz says the HSOC hopes to enhance those efforts.
“What a lot of these entities struggle with is the sharing of information across jurisdictions and being able to integrate really diverse sets of information outside of their jurisdictions,” Katz said. “What we’re hoping to do is, in some ways, be a force multiplier and, in some ways, work in support of all those organizations.”
Information from the HSOC is also being made available to the public. You can sign up for daily updates here.
Watch more on the HSOC’s health risk monitoring during the World Cup: