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We are currently soliciting funding to support these efforts. Our funding goal to support the entire program is $500,000. The table below provides detail on our target funding amounts per person for the COVID Corps team, as well as administrative costs, which include but are not limited to publication fees, website hosting, production equipment for science communication.
| Role | Target amount per person |
|---|---|
| Student member | 5,000 |
| Student executive | 7,500 |
| Faculty member | 7,500 |
| Co-Director | 15,000 |
| Administrative costs | 10,000 |
Addressing important epidemiologic issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Epidemiology COVID-19 Response Corps (COVID Corps) is designed to bring together students, faculty, and other BU community members to address important epidemiologic issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including research, communication, policy, and best practices.
The COVID Corps is developing projects in five areas:
- Epidemiologic Research. Analysis of COVID-19 data to answer pressing epidemiologic questions about pandemic spread, symptoms, treatments, and other related topics.
- Safe-opening strategy development. Creating and disseminating comprehensive guidelines for safe opening of the workplace in specific occupations and industries. Guidelines will be informed by interviews with key stakeholders (employers, employees, customers, union representatives, etc.) as well as the literature on workplace infection control.
- Science communication. Developing communication materials on key public health messages, epidemiologic concepts, and other topics identified as areas of need. These materials will include opinion pieces in newspapers, magazines, or blogs, commentary articles in scientific journals, infographics, videos, and/or podcast episodes.
- Epidemiologic best practices for observational research. Developing an online repository for shared observational study protocols designed using epidemiologic best practices. Protocols in the repository will be geared towards questions that can only be answered through observational data.
- Epidemiology-informed guidance to policymakers. Collaborating with legislative or executive offices that seek epidemiologic guidance on COVID-19 and the public health response.
The COVID Corps is also developing projects in three cross-cutting topic areas:
- Mental Health. Many mental health issues have been exacerbated by COVID- 19 response efforts. The Mental Health team will identify and work to address unmet epidemiology and science communication needs related to mental health and COVID-19.
- Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and Community Response. COVID- 19 has disproportionately burdened BIPOC communities, and these communities are often excluded from research and response plan development. The BIPOC Community Response team will identify and work to address unmet epidemiology and science communication needs related to racial and ethnic disparities and COVID- 19, with a special focus on community-based participatory research practices.
- Disabilities and Chronic Conditions. People with disabilities are at elevated risk for acquiring COVID-19 and becoming seriously ill or dying. Not unrelatedly, people with a chronic health condition, such as COPD or kidney disease, similarly have elevated risks. The goal of this project is to examine populations with specific conditions or combination of conditions in regard to their acquisition of COVID-19, health communication surrounding their risk, continuation of their needed health services (and the safety of their service providers), and policies surrounding long term residential facilities. It will also assess the needs and health of COVID-19 survivors with lasting disability or chronic condition.
The COVID Corps membership is comprised of two co-Directors, Drs Weuve and Murray, an Executive Committee of 4 students and alumni who are helping coordinate all the Corps efforts, and a cadre of approximately 80 Boston University students, alumni, and staff members plus 11 faculty mentors from Boston University and the wider epidemiologic community.
Learn more by visiting our website.
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