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COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions

The response of the scientific community to the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented in size, speed and discovery output. Within months of virus emergence, the SARS-CoV-2 genomics, replication, evolution and dissemination dynamics as well as natural history, infection risk and prognostic factors...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Struelens, Marc J., Vineis, Paolo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8072001/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33912532
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.651089
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author Struelens, Marc J.
Vineis, Paolo
author_facet Struelens, Marc J.
Vineis, Paolo
author_sort Struelens, Marc J.
collection PubMed
description The response of the scientific community to the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented in size, speed and discovery output. Within months of virus emergence, the SARS-CoV-2 genomics, replication, evolution and dissemination dynamics as well as natural history, infection risk and prognostic factors and biology of the disease have been gradually deciphered. More than 250 articles on COVID-19 published in Frontiers in Public Health have contributed to these insights. We discuss here some of the key research themes and challenges that have been addressed. We provide our perspective on current research issues with surveillance data quality and limitations of epidemiological methods. We warn against the potential misuse or misleading interpretation of public data of variable quality and the use of inadequate study designs for the evaluation of effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions. We conclude by interrogating possible public health strategies for pandemic control as well as discuss the ethical responsibilities and democratic accountability of researchers in their role as experts and policy advisors.
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spelling pubmed-80720012021-04-27 COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions Struelens, Marc J. Vineis, Paolo Front Public Health Public Health The response of the scientific community to the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented in size, speed and discovery output. Within months of virus emergence, the SARS-CoV-2 genomics, replication, evolution and dissemination dynamics as well as natural history, infection risk and prognostic factors and biology of the disease have been gradually deciphered. More than 250 articles on COVID-19 published in Frontiers in Public Health have contributed to these insights. We discuss here some of the key research themes and challenges that have been addressed. We provide our perspective on current research issues with surveillance data quality and limitations of epidemiological methods. We warn against the potential misuse or misleading interpretation of public data of variable quality and the use of inadequate study designs for the evaluation of effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions. We conclude by interrogating possible public health strategies for pandemic control as well as discuss the ethical responsibilities and democratic accountability of researchers in their role as experts and policy advisors. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8072001/ /pubmed/33912532 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.651089 Text en Copyright © 2021 Struelens and Vineis. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Struelens, Marc J.
Vineis, Paolo
COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions
title COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions
title_full COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions
title_fullStr COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions
title_short COVID-19 Research: Challenges to Interpret Numbers and Propose Solutions
title_sort covid-19 research: challenges to interpret numbers and propose solutions
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8072001/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33912532
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.651089
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