UArizona Students Support Pima County on Tracking COVID-19 Cases
The SAFER program team, led by Dr. Kristen Pogreba-Brown in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, will initiate investigations of positive COVID-19 cases to mitigate its spread and learn more about the risk factors.
As the numbers of reported cases continue to climb, state and county public health departments are responsible for conducting all case investigations and contact tracing for reported positive cases of COVID-19.
Public health students from the University of Arizona are assisting the Pima County Health Department in contact tracing of people who test positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that was declared a global pandemic on Jan. 30.
The University of Arizona is working closely with the Pima County Health Department to handle reported positive cases. Students in the UArizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health who are part of the Student Aid for Field Epidemiology Response, or SAFER, team will be investigating new cases of COVID-19.
In order to track all new confirmed positive cases among university students, faculty or staff, Campus Health will continue to report all diagnosed cases on the Campus Health COVID-19 website.
Kristen Pogreba-Brown, PhD, MPH
The SAFER team, led by Kristen Pogreba-Brown, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department at the college, will initiate contact tracing by following up with close contacts of positive-test COVID-19 cases to mitigate its spread.
These public health measures will allow the university to collectively help protect the community at large.
More information on the college’s activities regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is at this link.
The UArizona Health Sciences COVID-19 Resources webpage can be found here.
For the latest on the University of Arizona response to the novel coronavirus, visit the university's COVID-19 webpage.
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NOTE: Photos available upon request.
This article first appeared at the UA News website.
About the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
Established in 2000, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona Health Sciences is the first nationally accredited college of public health in the Southwest. Today the college remains the only accredited college of public health in the state of Arizona, with campuses in Tucson and Phoenix. The college enrolls more than 1,100 students per year across degree programs at the bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral levels. Through research, education and community engagement, the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health continues to find solutions to public health problems in Arizona, the Southwest and globally. For more information: publichealth.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter).
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. UArizona Health Sciences includes the Colleges of Medicine (Tucson and Phoenix), Nursing, Pharmacy, and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona, the greater Southwest and around the world to provide next-generation education, research and outreach. A major economic engine, Health Sciences employs nearly 5,000 people, has approximately 4,000 students and 900 faculty members, and garners $200 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram).