PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
APHL Responds to COVID-19
by Stephanie Barahona, associate specialist, Public Health Preparedness and Response and Chris Mangal, MPH, director, Public Health
Preparedness and Response
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become an international public health concern, requring
a massive public health response. APHL has acted quickly to support members in this
unprecedented global health emergency, and will continue to advance the mission of public
health laboratories throughout the response.
APHL COVID-19 RESPONSE GOALS
• Ensure public health laboratories have timely diagnostics to perform quality
laboratory testing in their jurisdictions.
• Assist public health laboratories with reporting test results to sample
submitters and to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
• Provide technical assistance and credible communications to public
health laboratories, partners and the public.
APHL RESPONSE ACTIONS
Activated Emergency Operations Center
Utilizing its incident command system (ICS) to effectively coordinate the organization’s
response and better address the needs of public health laboratories.
Shaped Science and Quality of Diagnostics
• First to call attention to the quality of the CDC
assay and worked with CDC on solutions to
mitigate the quality issues.
• Maintained a COVID-19 task force of experts
and proposed a select group of public health
laboratories to verify the initial lot of reagents.
CDC utilized these data to shape the deployment
of new test kits to qualified laboratories.
• Worked with CDC and public health
laboratories to evaluate automated
extraction platforms to increase
testing capacity.
• Captured data on capability, capacity
and needs from 100 public health
laboratories to inform allocation of
federal resources.
Secured Private Funding to Support
Priority Jurisdictions
• Secured funding from the CDC Foundation to
procure and deliver 12 QIAGEN EZ1 Advanced
XL Automated Extraction Instruments and
associated service contracts for eight public
health laboratories.
• Entered into contracts with three
repatriated sites (California, San
Diego and Nebraska) supporting
payment for staff time, purchasing
reagents and updating their
laboratory information
management system
(LIMS).
DIGITAL EXTRA: Read more about APHL’s response efforts to COVID-19
24 LAB MATTERS Spring 2020
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL APHL.org