Pandemic Response Officers: Integration Between Medical, Public Health, and Higher Education Systems to Expedite Prevention and Response.

CONTEXT: Research and policy studies alike have enumerated population and community health benefits of system integration between medical, public health, and social entities. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the necessity of a well-trained and adequately staffed public health and medical workforce in order to process SARS-CoV-2 cases and prevent subsequent transmission. Higher education systems, in particular, represented defined populations of exposure and transmission. Opportunities existed for collaboration and task sharing between institutions of higher education and local public health departments to limit spread and impacts. PROGRAM: This article describes the Pandemic Response Officer (PRO) program at Cornell University, a team of staff and students created during the intensity of the pandemic to benefit the Tompkins County and Cornell University communities. IMPLEMENTATION: The PRO program was formed in January 2021, with an original team of 8 individuals, working iteratively to investigate and support employee cases and exposures. Implementation was motivated by Cornell University's dual responsibility as a large employer that also possessed SARS-CoV-2 test results of employees. PROs loaded case information into a shared HIPPA-compliant electronic record that collected information for case notification, case investigation, isolation support, contact tracing, contact notification, and quarantine support. Over time, the PROs grew to a team of 25, gaining responsibilities as university and public health systems shared roles to maximize resources. EVALUATION: From January 1 to December 31, 2021, PROs managed 773 employee and 2943 student cases. During the Omicron surge (November 28-December 31, 2021), PROs saved the public health department an estimated 2797 hours of effort, equating to more than 10 professionals working full-time, evenings and weekends, to process cases and contacts during this interval. DISCUSSION: By integrating efforts between a university and public health agency, this intervention minimized SARS-CoV-2 transmission via expedient case support and alleviated strain on public health systems by expanding the public health workforce.

Effect of serial transfer of three strains of Paecilomyces fumosoroseus on growth in vitro, virulence, and host specificity.

Serial passage of entomopathogenic Hyphomycetes has been shown to alter virulence and host specificity. We evaluated virulence, host specificity, biomass production, conidiation, conidial germination, and a genetic fingerprint of 3 strains of Paecilomyces fumosoroseus after passage in vitro or in vivo in Diuraphis noxia or Plutella xylostella. Strain 4461 did not change in virulence toward D. noxia or P. xylostella after 30 passages in vitro nor after 15 passages in D. noxia. However, it lost virulence toward D. noxia after 15 passages in P. xylostella and did not regain virulence after 5 passages in D. noxia. Passage in D. noxia did result in a loss in conidiation for strain 4461, and passage in vitro resulted in a reduction in the speed of germination. Strain 4481 was the least variable and did not change in any of our tests. Strain 4491 did not change in virulence after passage in vitro nor after passage in D. noxia. It lost virulence toward D. noxia after passage in P. xylostella but regained virulence after re-passage in D. noxia. Mycelial dry weight and conidiation were both reduced after passage in vitro, but were increased after passage in D. noxia. These two traits did not change after passage in P. xylostella. Germination speed was reduced after in vitro passage of strain 4491. No change in banding pattern was observed for any strain using 14 primers for RAPD-PCR. These results demonstrate the intraspecific variability and phenotypic plasticity of strains of P. fumosoroseus. Stability of virulence after in vitro passage is clearly a desirable trait for a mass-produced biocontrol agent. However, a change in host specificity or productivity in vitro, as we observed for some strains, must be monitored and minimized.