734: COVID Updates, AI’s Public Health Communication Applications

JANSON SILVERS:   

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, August 22, 2024. I'm Janson Silvers. Now today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. 

MARCUS PLESCIA: 

There's clearly a little bit of a surge in infection rates this summer, and more recently, we've even been seeing a bit of an uptick in hospitalization and emergency room rates. 

SILVERS:   

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO chief medical officer, updates us on covid rates across the country as school starts again, Plescia says it may get worse before it gets better. 

PLESCIA: 

That's always a time that we tend to see a little bit of an uptick increase in activity, because, you know, kids are in close quarters and, you know, so you get infection being passed that way.  

SILVERS:   

But help is on the way.  

PLESCIA:   

We're about to have access to the new and most updated COVID-19 vaccine, and we're anticipating that, possibly this week, most likely next week, that vaccine will start to roll out, be available in the community and either in pharmacies or in doctor's offices or in other places. 

SILVERS:   

ASTHO is also doing what it can to prepare for the respiratory disease season. It has reconvened the Respiratory Disease Task Force group with representatives from ASTHO, NACCHO, the Big Cities Health Coalition and more. 

PLESCIA:   

We're coming together to talk a little bit about how different jurisdictions are preparing for the respiratory disease season. And what we're hoping that the task force will do, as it did last year, is come up with some feedback or recommendations for CDC, as far as what do jurisdictions need right now, as far as technical assistance or guidance from CDC. 

SILVERS:   

ASTHO has several COVID-19 resources on the website. There's a link in the show notes. 

The public health community is watching as AI applications expand. Robert Jennings is the Executive Director of the National Public Health Information Coalition, or NPHIC. He says public health communication is one area that can benefit immediately. 

ROBERT JENNINGS:   

Generative AI by its ability to take data and produce outputs in the forms of video, audio, text, and other digital content may offer better and more efficient ways of working, which would certainly be attractive to overworked and under resourced public health departments. 

SILVERS:   

Jennings believes focused messaging, the automation of routine tasks. and improved accessibility are just a few of the pros for AI, but we also have to be aware that AI isn't perfect. 

JENNINGS:   

So it's human input. So it's going to be human output used by the machines in enhanced way. We need to be careful that the information and the data that's being put into these language models are not biased, and that our outputs have been looked at from a human perspective. 

SILVERS:   

If AI is going to benefit public health, Jennings says leaders have to take the first step.  

JENNINGS:   

It's going to take a deliberate effort by public health leadership to adopt AI within their organizations. We need to remember that AI is a tool and it must be human centered, and leadership should adopt policies and procedures that ensure guidelines and protocols are in place that will maintain that public trust that we talked about.  

SILVERS:   

Jennings recently published an article in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice about how to leverage AI for public health communication. You can find a link to the article in the show notes.  

Also today, it's your last chance to participate in astos pharmacist prescribed contraception webinar series. O'Keyla Cooper has more. 

O'KEYLA COOPER:   

Join ASTHO's contraception access, learning community and birth control. Pharmacist on Tuesday, September 17, at 2pm eastern time for the final session of the Pharmacist Prescribed Contraception Webinar Series. This session will explore strategies for public outreach and increasing awareness of PPC services, highlighting how these services enhance contraceptive care and improve patient access. Register now using the link in the show notes. 

SILVERS:   

Finally, this morning, this month, marks the three year anniversary of this newscast, and we have heard from public health leaders across the country today. Dr Scott Harris, Alabama state health officer and ASTHO's president elect, tells us what the daily newscast means to him.  

SCOTT HARRIS:   

You don't always know who has the expertise or who's learned the lessons that you're trying to learn yourself. And so you know, many times I'll hear someone speak on a subject and go, Oh, gee, I didn't know somebody else was having to think through that same problem. And it's just a good way to, you know, maintain your awareness. 

SILVERS:   

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.