In the two years following the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world place much more respect on public health guidelines and the responsibility to handle infectious disease outbreaks. Following lockdown measures, people around the world began noticing clearer skies, cleaner air, and the emergence of wildlife in urban areas. It was then that the effect of bustling traffic and the barrage of crowds in their local environment dawned on local communities. However, the cleaner air did not make them any less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, as the exposure to high PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels left their respiratory systems vulnerable to the virus. This was especially noticeable in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, often located close to the industrial parts of town, where pollution exposure is higher, and where access to clean water and hygiene may be tenuous. Environmental injustices were exposed in such areas around the world; people understood with more clarity, that such populations without access to clean water, healthcare, and other resources, were more susceptible to climate disasters like droughts and wildfires, and incidences of infectious diseases like COVID-19. Data from such research efforts, and other COVID-related studies were slow to reach critical healthcare entities. As a result, critical public health information oftentimes reached their destination too late, leading to sometimes dire consequences.

Following the most brutal waves of the pandemic, and in an effort to address this lag in data dissemination to healthcare entities, Congress authorized a multi-year, multi-billion dollar effort to modernize core data and surveillance infrastructure across federal and state public health arenas (CDC, 2022). Known as the Data Modernization Initiative (DMI), it has woven itself into the very fabric of CDC data management and infrastructure.

The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) has been actively participating in DMI since its inception. Launched in 2002, the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (EPHTN) serves as a template for how surveillance data can be accessible to all. Surveillance data refers to data being systematically collected and analyzed, with contents related to any given public health-related topic. For example, public health researchers wanting to ascertain a relationship between given variables and something like heat exposure or precipitation, can extrapolate that information from the EPHTN and use it however they wish to. Having this publicly available database allows for ease of conducting analyses and disseminating necessary information. Data modernization efforts in 2021 in NCEH allowed for additional allocation of funding towards 11 Tracking Program jurisdictions to modernize the collection, integration, dissemination, and application of timely, local, environmental public health data (CDC, 2022). In the years to come, more such jurisdictions (states) around the country may be able to receive similar funding and generate initiatives that target their respective environmental health problems. More surveillance data from more states will inform state, local, even perhaps federal environmental policies as people become increasingly conscious about climate change and global warming.

DMI implementation will take several years to achieve, and even longer to see its effects on foundational public health as a whole. Informatics has a key role in environmental health, and its use in understanding data linkages between the amassed environmental data within the related data systems, will help facilitate the distribution of climate and health data to healthcare entities and other external partners. The hope for climate change is that following successful DMI implementation, well-rounded policies can be implemented around the country, all shaped by the vast, widely available environmental health data.

References

https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/data-modernization/index.html

https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/