NACCHO has been releasing bi-weekly blogs consisting of an up-to-date collection of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) resources for our members working at the intersection of environmental health and COVID-19. See past resource roundups here.
Across NACCHO
- Upcoming Webinars:
- NACCHO COVID-19 Webinar: Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine: This webinar will discuss the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, which has recently been authorized for emergency use in the United States. After the presentation, public health and healthcare providers will have a better understanding of vaccine characteristics such as storage and handling. Vaccinators will also have a more in-depth knowledge of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy profile. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, March 23, 3:00-4:00 pm ET. Register here.
- NACCHO COVID-19 Webinar: Nursing Home TeleICAR Training: This webinar covers a high-level overview of the TeleICAR process, including scheduling and outreach, conducting the ICAR, providing feedback, documenting observations, and follow-up. This training is recommended for jurisdictions that are new to the TeleICAR process or are onboarding new staff that will be tasked with conducting ICARs in nursing home settings. The webinar will take place on Thursday, March 25, 3:00-4:00 pm ET. Register here.
- NACCHO COVID-19 Webinar: CDC Guidance for Operating Child Care Programs during COVID-19: The National Association of County and City Health Officials invites local health department leadership and staff to participate in a federal snapshot webinar, CDC Guidance for Operating Child Care Programs during COVID-19. This webinar will feature a subject matter expert from the CDC to speak on their newly released guidance. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, March 30, 3:00-3:30 pm ET. *Please note, this webinar will not be recorded, however, slides and resources will be sent out to registrants.* Register here.
From the Public Health Communications Collaborative
Join a conversation with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, about COVID-19 communications and the important partnership between the CDC and local health departments. Dr. Walensky will respond to your questions. Register to join the conversation on March 30 at 1-1:30 pm EDT / 10-10:30 am PDT. After you register, submit questions along with your name and affiliation.
From the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
COVID-19 TechXPo - Join ASTHO on March 31, 2021 at 2 PM ET where state and territorial health officials will convene with local and federal partners to focus exclusively on the use of technology to support the COVID-19 response. Employees of a state/local governmental agency, federal governmental agency, military, non-profit, and educational organization can attend for free!
From CDC
- When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated: How to Protect Yourself and Others: COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic. Refer to this guidance to learn more.
- Guidance for Operating Child Care Programs during COVID-19 (Updated March 12): See a snapshot of changes below.
CDC and ATSDR Launch Clean Away COVID Project
CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR) recently launched a prevention project, Clean Away COVID. Originally intended to reach WIC programs and participants, it’s potential health impact for public health, and the general population, is exponentially great. USDA, National WIC Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics are all in support of the project. CleanAwayCOVID.org is the project’s public facing website and contains education materials in English and Spanish, videos, posters, and learning modules. Information was specifically created to be easily read (grades 6 to 8 reading level) so everyone could understand the important cleaning and prevention messages.
Download their toolkit for more information on the campaign and to download their learning modules on maintaining safe and clean home environments.
From the RADx-UP Coordination and Data Collection Center
Funding opportunity: Community organizations can apply for up to $50,000 in funds to support increased testing for COVID-19. In an effort to better reach communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIH-funded RADx-UP program is soliciting applications for its Community Collaboration Mini-Grant Program. These funds are available to community serving organizations, faith-based organizations, and tribal nations and organizations. Funds can be used to help advance capacity, training, support, and community experience with COVID-19 testing.
These funds can be used to support personnel costs, contracted service costs (transportation, translation, and interpretation, etc.), and non-personnel costs (participant incentives, information and technology equipment, etc.) for example:
- Funds could be used to remove barriers to COVID-19 communication and outreach, COVID-19 testing and diagnosis, and COVID-19 data collection and dissemination testing;
- Funds could be used to evaluate strategies for the communication of test results and follow-up measures to underserved and vulnerable populations;
- Funds could be used to provide training and education for community members around COVID-19 testing topics of interest to the community;
- Funds could be used to generate communication materials related to COVID-19 testing that will increase understanding of isolation, quarantine, or availability of wrap-around support.
For more examples and application instructions go to: https://radx-up.org/apply-for-grant/. The deadline for applications is April 16th.
See any EH and COVID-19 categories missing on this bi-weekly blog? Let us know by emailing [email protected]. Continue to check back with NACCHO’s Essential Elements for COVID-19 and local health resources.
