At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infrastructure for understanding the epidemiology of a rapidly evolving virus in real-time was limited.

Given the long lead time required for the government to start new projects, the CDC harnessed a variety of studies and platforms designed for other purposes

credit: From Wikimedia Commons

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to begin collecting the specimen and survey data needed to understand COVID-19 risk, burden, severity, and immunity.

While hospital-based platforms were key to understanding frequency and risk factors for severe disease, community-based platforms were important for understanding viral kinetics, risk factors for infection, transmission dynamics, long-term outcomes, and the impact of vaccination on each of these measures.This funding opportunity would build on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and establish a network of community-based cohorts, including diverse age groups (target populations:
younger than 5 years old, 5-17 years old, 18-64 years old, and older than 64 years old), demographic characteristics, and regions in the US, to allow ongoing monitoring of changes in respiratory virus epidemiology in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A consolidated network will be more efficient and cost savings than current disparate mechanism, strengthen communication/collaboration, and enhance CDC's preparedness to quickly obtain data on infection risk, transmission, and effectiveness of preventive measures in response to a novel virus or variant.