Trump Kicks Toughest Decisions to States with Reopening Plan | Bloomberg Law

“Any return to normal will require extensive testing, rapid identification of cases and tracing and testing of contacts of infected people, said Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health.
“I’m not convinced we have those resources available,” Galea said. “We need to re-emerge. And to re-emerge, we need to plan for how to mitigate the risk of every case becoming again an outbreak, and every outbreak becoming an epidemic. I don’t think we’ll be ready tomorrow.”

June is likelier, he said.”

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Pressley Says Baker ‘Open” To Rescinding State Issued Guidelines for Rationing Ventilators | WGBH

Limited data released by both the state and city of Boston show higher rates of coronavirus infections in black and Latino residents. On Monday, Dr. Sandro Galea, the dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, told WGBH News that once more data is available, he expects to see a trend of the virus more heavily impacting African-Americans and Latinos than whites. Pressley said she believes the higher rate of infections and disease in communities of color is connected to structural policy problems, such as a lack of available healthy food and public transportation.

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Coronavirus Seminar Series: The Health Consequences of the Consequences

This panel will explore the long-tail health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The experts will examine the social and economic changes that have emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and how these changes will shape population health in the coming years and decades.

SPEAKERS:

Janet Currie, Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; Catherine McClean, Associate Professor, Temple University; Arjumand Siddiqi, Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity and Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; and Sandro Galea, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health.w

Covid-19 testing issues could sink plans to re-open the country. Might CT scans help? | STAT News

Because the fault is human rather than molecular, there is no technological fix. If tests are the first leg of an exit strategy, as the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said in a plan released last weekend for reopening the U.S. economy, then incorrectly “clearing” 30% of those who are tested will doom any exit plan. They could be cleared to return to work when they’re actually infectious, and — even worse — those they encounter and potentially expose to the virus would not be identified and quarantined.
“We cannot rely fully on the test” to guide decisions crucial to re-opening the economy, said Sandro Galea, a physician and epidemiologist who is the dean of the Boston University School of Public Health.

Read the full article here.

COVID-19: Mental Illness the ‘Inevitable’ Next Pandemic? | Medscape

In an article published online April 10 in JAMA Internal Medicine on the mental health consequences of COVID-19, the authors warn of a "pandemic" of behavioral problems and mental illness.
"COVID-19 is a traumatic event that we are all experiencing. We can well expect there to be a rise in mental illness nationwide," first author Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, dean of the School of Public Health, Boston University, Massachusetts, told Medscape Medical News. 
"Education about this, screening for those with symptoms, and availability of treatment are all important to mitigate the mental health consequences of COVID-19," Galea added.

Read the full piece here.

Mental Health fallout from COVID-19 expected | The Citizen

The need for self-care may be especially important for health care providers working on the frontlines of the pandemic who, early data suggests, may be particularly vulnerable to depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress. GROW Restored Foundation, the nonprofit arm of GROW Counseling, is offering free social support groups called Story Groups to provide extra emotional support for healthcare workers during these difficult times.
In the meantime, Sandro Galea, MD, of the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues warned in a viewpoint published online in JAMA Internal Medicine of the likelihood of increased rates of mental health problems as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to “recognize the pandemic that will quickly follow it – that of mental and behavioral illness.”

Read the full piece here.

Massachusetts Recruits 1,000 ‘Contact Tracers’ To Battle COVID-19 | WBUR

Public health experts say many more tests will be needed to cover everyone who will be identified by this project. And waiting up to five days for the test's results, as some people still do, is a problem.
"The delay in how long it takes to get the results remains too long to make contact tracing very effective," says Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the School of Public Health at Boston University.
But Galea notes that testing capability could change any time.
"Yesterday, we probably did not have the tools," he says. "Whether we'll have the tools tomorrow remains to be seen."

Read the full article here.

Dr. Sandro Galea discusses COVID-19’s Impact on Communities of Color | WGBH

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to be disproportionately impacting communities of color, according to limited national data that has been released. Though racial data of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts is scarce, recently released data from the City of Boston revealed higher infection rates in African American and Latino residents than whites.
Dr. Sandro Galea, the dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, said that the current data is limited and does not show a disproportionate burden on communities of color, though he expects that to change once more becomes available.
“What we do have does not show a disproportionate burden of coronavirus on people of color at the moment, but one would expect that we are going to see that because other states have consistently shown that,” Galea said.”

Read the full piece here.

Survey Available To Asses COVID-29 Impact | Transylvania Times

“The COVID-19 survey was developed in partnership with Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of Boston University's School of Public Health, and includes questions to assess risk tied to COVID-19 transmission, adherence to policies and guidelines, and impacts on financial and physical resilience, as well as social, purpose and community well-being. Upon completion, participants are shown a summary of their responses alongside real-time cumulative survey results to see how their behaviors and feelings compare to others across the nation. Participants are also presented with a collection of resources, tools and practical information to help them manage their risk of COVID-19, as well as other challenges presented by the pandemic, including anxiety, financial stress, and higher levels of sedentary behavior, among others.”

Read the full piece here.

What are the side effects of social and physical distancing | News Medical Life Sciences

“Researchers Sandro Galea from the Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Raina M. Merchant, from the Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and Nicole Lurie, from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Oslo, Norway, published an opinion paper in the JAMA Internal Medicine titled, “The Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19 and Physical Distancing The Need for Prevention and Early Intervention”.  They call for urgent attention to be paid to the effects of social and physical distancing on the mental health of the population during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Read the full piece here.

COVID-19 and Suicide: ‘A Perfect Storm’? | MedPage

“ It appears likely that the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to increased rates of mental health problems, and "we must recognize the pandemic that will quickly follow it -- that of mental and behavioral illness," wrote Sandro Galea, MD, of the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues in a separate viewpoint published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

After experiencing trauma or other stressors on the frontline of the pandemic, healthcare providers will be particularly vulnerable to the mental health impact of the crisis, the authors noted.”

Read the full piece here.

Elderly residents continue to bear the brunt of Coronavirus infection in Mass., data show | Boston Globe

“We’re seeing the real demographic distribution of this disease,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, dean at the Boston University School of Public Health. “If you look at Italy, this is exactly what they had. But in Italy the overwhelmingly higher death rate is really driven by the fact that they had a lot more people over age 80.”
In Massachusetts, almost half of the people who have tested positive for COVID-19 are under age 50. That figure is actually disproportionately low for a state in which 62 percent of the population is under 50, according to US Census figures.”

Read the full piece here.

Life in coronavirus lockdown ‘could have a devastating impact on mental health | Metro

“They say it’s essential for us to be prepared for how coronavirus will impact our mental wellbeing and for those in charge to take action now to support those struggling. Dr Sandro Galea from Boston University said: ‘Since the first case of novel Covid-19 was diagnosed in December 2019, it has swept across the world and galvanised global action. ‘This has brought unprecedented efforts to institute the practice of physical distance in countries all over the world, resulting in changes in national behavioural patterns and shutdowns of usual day-to-day functioning.”

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Greater Boston Full Show 04/09/20 | WGBH

Although predictions for the national death toll from coronavirus have been adjusted downward in recent days, experts are warning the public that it’s hard to know exactly how deadly the pandemic will be, and that social distancing measures are still needed to try and mitigate the threat.

Closer to home, the numbers for Massachusetts have been adjusted upwards in recent days, with more than 5,500 total deaths in the state expected by late May. Emily Rooney spoke about the projections Sandro Galea, Dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health and co-author of the forthcoming book, ‘Pained: Uncomfortable Conversations About The Public’s Health.’

Sneeze Guards and Temperature Checks Are the New Normal for U.S. Retail | Bloomberg

“There’s nothing that can protect you as much as being in a protective bubble away from all other humans,” said Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. “But that’s unrealistic. So I think it’s just the job to, as much as possible, reduce the risk while maintaining the operations needed.”
The longer term question is whether such safety protocols, adopted at the height of the pandemic, become a regular part of retail life in a post-pandemic world.”

Read the full piece.

This is the personal website of Sandro Galea. All photos are taken by Sandro Galea.