Douglas County Board of Health declares racism a public health crisis | NBC 6 News

In order to address the "social determinants of equity" and watch for "inequities in exposures and opportunities" and "disparities in outcomes," policies and practices will need to be examined, the document states.

According to the county health board document, the problem of racism rises to the level of a health crisis according to the definition outlined by renowned epidemiologist Dr. Sandro Galea, who notes: "The problem must affect large numbers of people, it must threaten health over the long-term, and it must require the adoption of large scale solutions."

Read the full piece here.

NBA Season restart: Here’s what to expect come July 30 | International Business Times

According to ESPN, it is estimated that the league bubble could contain 1,500-2,000 people. However, experts have pointed out a lot of weak points in the NBA-Disney plan which could potentially lead to a large NBA cluster infection. Nevertheless, the league is already aware of the risks and are consulting dozens of experts to mitigate the problem.

The obvious weak point is the interaction between the NBA participants and the Disney employees. While NBA participants are quarantined, according to Sandro Galea, Dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, the Disney staff are not. It creates a really complicated situation.

Abraar Karan, a physician from the Harvard Medical School, also pointed out that tests aren't perfect. Unless the NBA invests in daily testing to ensure consistent results, the league's comprehensive plan is a high-risk endeavour.

Read the full piece here.

The enormous risks and stakes driving the NBA’s safety discussions | ESPN

In theory, you could pull it off without a hitch: About 1,500 people test negative for the coronavirus -- several times -- before entering the NBA's proposed "bubble" at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, they interact with almost no one else, and the league emerges three months later with 1,500 healthy people and one champion.”

"If you have [1,500] people quarantined without contact with others, assuming none of them bring coronavirus into the bubble, then none of them will get it," said Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist and dean at the Boston University School of Public Health. "In some respects, it is that simple."

Read the full piece here.

County moves past 9,200 coronavirus cases, 350 deaths | Valley News

For health experts to continue to make advancements in contact tracing, they need newly infected people to have the ability to remember everyone they have come in contact with over the past several days. That procedure will be difficult with people coming in after attending mass gatherings. The process also relies on the public’s trust in government. “These events that are happening now are further threats to the trust we need,” Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, told the AP. “If we do not have that, I worry our capacity to control new outbreaks becomes more limited.”

Read the full piece here.

What Comes Next: The effect coronavirus has had on our minds may change society for good | Metro CO

Covid-19 and the nationwide lockdowns in response to it have already had an undeniably strong effect on nearly every aspect of our daily life and, as such, our mental wellbeing. We previously spoke to Dr. Sandro Galea from Boston University, who warned Metro.co.uk that the pandemic and resulting lockdown measures ‘will undoubtedly have consequences for mental health and wellbeing in both the short and long term.’ Dr. Sandro added: ‘The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, and efforts to contain it, represent a unique threat, and we must recognise the pandemic that will quickly follow it – that of mental and behavioural illness – and implement the steps needed to mitigate it.’

Read the full piece here.

Protests could be ‘giving the coronavirus another head start' | Rochester First

And the process relies on something that may be suddenly be in especially short supply: Trust in government. “These events that are happening now are further threats to the trust we need,” Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, said. “If we do not have that, I worry our capacity to control new outbreaks becomes more limited,” he said.

Read the full piece here.

Task force: more needs to be done to protect the most vulnerable as the state reopens | Boston Globe

The task force is cochaired by Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, and Cheryl Bartlett, CEO of the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center and a former commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Among the conditions the task force wants met before phase two goes forward is a drop in COVID-19 infection rates for minorities, including Black, Latinx, and disabled people. Overall state trends may “mask inequities among populations already experiencing disproportionate risk and marginalization,” it said. The task force is also asking for more support for small businesses ― such as grants and loans — and enforceable protections for workers to minimize their risk of exposure to the virus.

Read the full piece here.

What’s driving Rockefeller’s new commission on data and health? | Devex

“The foundation explained in a press release that technological advances now allow for more data to be collected on the economic, social, and political factors that influence people’s health. The “3-D Commission” — on health determinants, data, and decision-making — partly aims to examine the social and economic levers that influence health outcomes.
Commission chair Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, told Devex there was “a growing sense of frustration” that “housing decisions, transportation decisions, wage decisions, taxation decisions, are not made bearing health in mind. And as a result [the world] has not quite advanced on health achievements as we could.”

Read the full piece here.

SPH Seminar: Public Health, Science Experts Offer Global Perspectives on COVID-19 | BU Today

“As we navigate COVID-19 in the United States, it is possible to develop tunnel vision about this crisis and see it primarily from a North American perspective,” said Sandro Galea, SPH dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, in his opening remarks. “But viewing COVID-19 through a global lens and learning from the experience of other countries can help us mitigate the pandemic in the near term, and lay the groundwork for a healthier future.”

Read the full piece.

Protests Could Slow Achievements in Fighting Coronavirus | Explica

The protests shaking the country since last week – and the police response to them – threaten to thwart efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak just as it seemed they were finally controlling it in the United States. It is vital that people who catch it remember who they were in contact with so they can alert others and also to try to determine who caught them. But in massive concentrations, it is almost impossible to list the people with whom you came in contact. That process, on the other hand, depends largely on something that may be in short supply: Trust in government. “This going on compromises the trust that is needed,” said Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. “If we don’t have that, I’m afraid our ability to contain the virus will be limited.”

Read the full piece here.

How medical bias against black people is shaping COVID-19 treatment and care | VOX

Research shows that medical students and residents still inaccurately believe that Black people have “thicker skin” and experience less pain than whites. A 2018 study found that Black people are more likely to be involved in studies that have been exempted from requiring informed consent (which would fully describe the potential risks of the research to participants). Black communities are more likely to lack emergency medical care and maternity wards. And Black women are more likely to not receive adequate prenatal care from health care providers, which may play a role in the higher maternal mortality rate for Black mothers.

“Health is about more than having medicines that treat us when are sick. It is about being able to have the expectation of a healthy life. Recent events have shown yet again this is an expectation often denied to black and brown communities in the US.”

Read the full piece here.

Mass gatherings, erosion of trust upend coronavirus control | Associated Press

“Health experts need newly infected people to remember and recount everyone they’ve interacted with over several days in order to alert others who may have been exposed, and prevent them from spreading the disease further. But that process, known as contact tracing, relies on people knowing who they’ve been in contact with — a daunting task if they’ve been to a mass gathering.
And the process relies on something that may suddenly be in especially short supply: Trust in government. “These events that are happening now are further threats to the trust we need,” said Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. “If we do not have that, I worry our capacity to control new outbreaks becomes more limited,” he said.

Read the full piece here.

Protests Could Lead to Surge of Coronavirus Cases, Officials Say | Route Fifty

“Other officials worried that the breakdown of trust in government would further hinder the country’s ability to move past the pandemic. A successful public health campaign relies heavily on citizens’ ability to believe and obey what government agencies are advocating, which may prove more difficult in some communities as protests over systemic racism continue to rage, said Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health.

“These events that are happening now are further threats to the trust we need,” Galea told the Associated Press. “If we do not have that, I worry our capacity to control new outbreaks becomes more limited.”

Read the full piece here.

Your daily 6: Violence and virus shake America, Biden could clinch and Trump takes shelter in bunker | St. Louis Dispatch

Health experts need newly infected people to remember and recount everyone they've interacted with over several days in order to alert others who may have been exposed, and prevent them from spreading the disease further. But that process, known as contact tracing, relies on people knowing who they've been in contact with — a daunting task if they've been to a mass gathering.

And the process relies on something that may suddenly be in especially short supply: Trust in government.

"These events that are happening now are further threats to the trust we need," said Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. "If we do not have that, I worry our capacity to control new outbreaks becomes more limited," he said.

Read the full piece here.

Mass gatherings, erosion of trust upend coronavirus control | KSAT San Antonio News

"Contact tracing is a service to patients and their contacts to provide services for patients and warning for contacts. It has nothing to do with police activity. Nothing," said Frieden, who is now president of Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit that works to prevent epidemics. Galea said he hopes many people will separate in their minds the contact tracing done by public health workers from crime investigations by the police. But, he added, “I do think sometimes it's difficult to make a distinction when you feel marginalized by, and targeted by, the entire government.”

Read the full piece here.

How to Expand your “Quarenteam” as States Begin to Open | One Green Planet

To stay safe, experts have multiple recommendations include continuing to monitor yourself for symptoms, hanging out in smaller groups, keep gatherings outside, and wearing masks to protect friends. And, continue to wash your hands and practice good hygiene rules. And, follow government or state orders. If your state hasn’t relaxed guidelines, then you shouldn’t be relaxing them.

“Broadly speaking, it will probably be okay to see family and friends in small groups while carefully monitoring symptoms,” according to Sandro Galea, MD, an epidemiologist, and professor of family medicine at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

Read the full piece here.

Coronavirus conversations: Science communication during a pandemic | Nature

Do researchers and frontline clinicians have a moral obligation to communicate science around the coronavirus?
In the second episode of this six-part Working Scientist podcast series about science communication, Pakinam Amer explores crisis communication and asks how well researchers have explained the underlying uncertainties to the public.
Epidemiologist Sandro Galea, dean of Boston University's school of public health, says academic researchers have three roles, to generate scholarship and science, to teach that science to students, and to clearly translate it for a general audience.
“Our job is to help the world see how we can bridge the science to the very real practical decisions that the world has to make to create a healthier world,” he says.

Listen to the full podcast here.

Our view: Be mindful of mental health during coronavirus crisis and know you’re not alone | Baltimore Sun

“Large-scale disasters are almost always accompanied by increases in depressions, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorder and other mental and behavioral disorders, according to a recent article in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” by Sandro Galea, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. He predicted a similar “overflow of mental illness” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

So what should and can we do about it?”

Read the full piece.

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