Epidemiologic Intelligence Network (EpI-Net) to promote COVID-19 testing and prevention practices among socially vulnerable communities in Puerto Rico

项目摘要 在波多黎各，首例新冠肺炎病例于2020年3月初确诊。到目前为止，案件呈指数级增长 部分原因是公关政府解除了封锁限制，有限的新冠肺炎测试，以及联系人追踪。波多黎各 生活在岛上的哥伦比亚人特别容易受到目前新冠肺炎大流行和自然因素的重叠 灾害(地震、飓风/风暴)。在整个公关过程中有限地获得分子新冠肺炎检测一直是一个 这是一个巨大的挑战。如果没有足够的检测，对SARS-CoV-2(新冠肺炎)感染率的估计是有限的 有针对性的预防努力(有重点的检测)可能会阻碍。由Marzán博士(MPI)领导的一组流行病学家开发了一种 与波多黎各公共卫生信托基金合作的基于网络的新冠肺炎流行病监测系统 (PRPHT，这笔赠款的社区合作伙伴)完成了46,000多项调查。ESSS工具是在线地理编码工具 识别过去24小时内新冠肺炎迹象和症状的实时数据的调查；因此，确定优先顺序 新冠肺炎测试社区。利用当前的预激反应新冠肺炎预防工作和环境安全保障计划 基础设施方面，研究小组将测试流行病情报(EPI-Net)以社区为基础的初步影响 旨在增加社会弱势社区接受新冠肺炎测试和预防做法的干预措施 在公关方面。工作假设是，整合非专业社区领导人，接受过使用新冠肺炎预防的培训 技术工具(计划免疫网络)，将导致目标人群更多地采用新冠肺炎检测和预防做法 波多黎各社会和流行病易受伤害的社区。这项极具创新性和影响力的研究将改变 当前的新冠肺炎预防战略通过1)建立以技术为基础的疫情情报基础设施 新冠肺炎综合征监测(ESSS)平台，用于实时识别潜在的新冠肺炎疫情，从而进行 有针对性的新冠肺炎检测，2)实施以人群为基础的新冠肺炎预防干预(EPI-NET)，由 流行病学家和业馀社区领袖被培训为健康促进者。

PROJECT ABSTRACT In Puerto Rico (PR), the first COVID-19 case was confirmed early March 2020. To date cases have exponentially increased partly due to the lifting of locked-down restriction by the PR government, limited COVID-19 testing, and contact tracing. Puerto Ricans living on the island are particularly vulnerable to the current overlapping of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters (earthquake, hurricanes/storms). Limited access to molecular COVID-19 testing throughout PR has been a significant challenge. Without adequate testing, estimates for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection rates are limited and targeted prevention efforts (focused testing) may hinder. A group of epidemiologists led by Dr. Marzán (MPI) developed a web-based COVID-19 Epidemiologic Surveillance System (ESSS) in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Public Health Trust (PRPHT, community partner for this grant) with more than 46,000 surveys completed. The ESSS tool is an online geocoded survey that identifies real-time data of COVID-19 signs and symptoms during the last 24 hours; and thus, prioritizes communities for COVID-19 testing. Leveraging the current PHSU-PRI COVID-19 prevention efforts and the ESSS infrastructure, the research team will test the preliminary impact of an epidemic intelligence (EpI-Net) community-based intervention aimed at increasing COVID-19 testing uptake and prevention practices among socially vulnerable communities in PR. The working hypothesis is that the integration of lay community leaders, trained in the use of COVID-19 prevention technology tools (EpI-Net), will result in increased COVID-19 testing uptake and prevention practices among the targeted socially and epidemiologically vulnerable communities in Puerto Rico. This highly innovative and impactful study will shift current COVID-19 prevention strategies by 1) establishing an epidemic intelligence infrastructure using a technology-based COVID-19 syndromic surveillance (ESSS) platform to identify in real time potential COVID-19 outbreaks and, thus, conduct targeted COVID-19 testing, 2) by implementing a population-based COVID-19 prevention intervention (EpI-Net) co-led by epidemiologists and lay community leaders trained as health promotors.