Title: Challenges in the Epidemiological Evaluation of COVID Interventions

Abstract:

Why is it that we are having so much trouble answering the very basic question: What COVID interventions have proven to be most effective?  To answer this question, we need to study population and their behaviors; meaning we need epidemiology. As the COVID epidemic progressed we implemented what seemed be reasonable actions; i.e. social distancing, hand hygiene, wearing gloves, and later resorted to more complicated interventions such as closing businesses, closing schools, masking, double masking, and finally vaccination (followed by booster 1,2,3). But these rapid adoptions, changes and pivots, have produced a study population which is so confounded that deductions are challenging to say the least. While numerous COVID evaluations and investigations have been conducted, they tended to be singular actions within very small and specialized at risk populations; i.e. health care workers, bus drivers etc.. This session will present the historical progression of COVID interventions and review epidemiological study designs and applicable confounding variables. Suggestions for future public health surveillance programs will be presented and evaluated.

Biography:

Jack Caravanos, life in the field ranges from jumping onto a motorcycle and navigating the jungles of Madre de Dios in the Peruvian Amazon studying toxic substances to traveling to remotes areas in Zambia, Indonesia, and Bolivia studying lead and other toxic wastes. By cooperating with local governments, his work provides safe, healthy, and evidence-based solutions for pollution problems in low- and middle-income countries. In partnership with Pure Earth, an international non-profit organization, Caravanos is studying the impact of gold extraction with mercury in Peru and Indonesia. Since miners are in danger of mercury poisoning, his research team is planning interventions that teach safer techniques for gold extraction. In Kabwe, Zambia - a mining town with exposure to lead - his research will provide methods to institute safer mining practices and policy recommendations to improve environmental remediation laws. Caravanos teaches Environmental Health for graduate students and Environmental Health in a Global World for undergraduate students. He also provides opportunities for student researchers in his ongoing projects, including in Indonesia and Ghana.