Information Management
Ethically responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires filling current gaps in information systems and processes. An interdisciplinary team of researchers offers both short- and long-term recommendations for public health reporting and data sharing, contact tracing and tracking, and clinical scoring tools to provide actionable items for pandemic response and public health organization and policy reform.
The actions needed to manage a pandemic like COVID-19 are the product of local emergency management and public health agencies. Collaboration between the two is recognized as a best practice; however, they often work in silos, which hinders community health and well-being. Public administration can help coordinate local public health and emergency management response, which then affects social, economic, and health inequities to strengthen community resilience.
Constructing an emergency information management system for epidemic prevention and control offers greater support for responding to catastrophic health emergencies. By collecting and analyzing epidemic-related data, screening false information, assessing user information behavior during public health emergencies, and openly sharing health research data, effectively addressing global health crises becomes much more attainable.
Finally, this week, applying evidence-based management during a pandemic is questioned. Specifically, questions of what should be considered as evidence, how can evidence be made more accessible, and how does evidence affect ethical judgments during a pandemic are all raised. Ultimately, the conclusions are that different evidentiary standards must be considered when in the midst of a pandemic. Appropriateness, reasonableness, intuition, stage of pandemic, and type of errors to avoid should be taken into consideration. Additionally, trained policy professionals both within and outside of government should help produce, interpret, evaluate, and apply evidence, and policies should be based on both evidence and values of a particular society.
