Cuyahoga County ‘disease detectives,' CWRU medical students track coronavirus in one of Ohio's hotspots

In March when fewer than 100 coronavirus infections had been found in the U.K, researchers in Cambridge decided to begin sequencing coronavirus samples as part of an "unparalleled surveillance system for Covid" that could identify and track possible mutations or the virus. This effort – which involves labs sending leftover material from testing swabs to the researcher's genomics lab where they are stored and analyzed – has culminated in hundreds of thousands of genome sequences and "sounded an alarm for the world" about the new fast-spreading variant.

In Minnesota, cross-sector collaboration, contact tracing, and a focus on adhering to public health safety protocols have helped Cook County avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, despite being a tourist destination. Local health officials and industry leaders presented a united front, while residents and business owners focused on ways to "keep the tourists from infecting the locals." With only seven residents contracting the virus by summer's end, the efforts appear to have been successful.

A group of health care workers and social workers formed to help connect hard-to-reach communities in Hawaii to COVID-19 testing and information about the pandemic. So far, they have been able to test more than 200 people who were showing symptoms or who had been at high risk of exposure. The director of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority has also reported that compliance with mask-wearing and other safety measures has increased since the effort began.

Senegal's success thus far in keeping coronavirus cases at manageable levels is due largely in part to a prioritization of increasing the number of beds available for COVID-19 patients. After years of running epidemic simulations, the Senegalese Health Emergency Operation Center was able to act swiftly when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, and convert hospital beds into ICU beds and hotel room beds into non-emergent beds.

When coronavirus first appeared in the United States, Seattle emerged as an epicenter, but just a few months later, the city and state have largely reduced the overall caseload. Local officials say that a unified approach, consisting of a combination of measured governmental action and strategic conversations between leaders and tech giants, was the key to slowing the spread while also gaining buy-in from state residents.

With the goal of containing the spread of Covid-19, the national governments in Australia and New Zealand took an approach that was predicated on letting public health experts take the lead. Although this approach – which led to early and aggressive restrictions of movement – was not met favorably by all at first, it has proved successful so far, leading both countries to reset the goal to eliminating the virus rather than just containing it.

An informal awareness campaign led by Chinese Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown has played a prominent role in helping to keep the spread of COVID-19 cases to a minimal in the community. Working with local health officials and using the city’s Chinese-language media, the hospital and community leaders implemented proactive protocols that included widespread mask-wearing and business closures. Although tourism and business revenue has significantly decreased, the community has been able to avoid outbreaks.

Although the future is unknown, for the time being, South Korea has largely contained the coronavirus pandemic by enacting a comprehensive response. Acting swiftly and aggressively, the country moved to initiate widespread testing, tracing and mapping of potential carriers, and a public information campaign to slow the spread.

Taiwan has gone largely unscathed thus far by the coronavirus, showing that their methodology of relying on civic technology has merit to be a model for other countries. Through a combination of "community initiatives, hackathons, and digital deliberation" Taiwan has been able to utilize "broad digital participation and community-driven tool development," both democratically and efficiently.

After being caught off-guard during the 2003 SARS epidemic, Taiwan developed a public health infrastructure to help prepare them for another. With the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, their number of cases have stayed low because of heightened surveillance for those who travel, the linking of insurance and immigration databases, combating misinformation through an educational campaign, and early plans for child care, businesses, and schools.