East Texas’ COVID-19 response featured in Harvard analysis

June 5, 2020

East Texas officials are being recognized for their coordinated response to the COVID-19 public health emergency in a recent analysis by Harvard University called, “Pandemic Resilience: Getting It Done.” The document says the Smith County, Texas, response “was selected due to its combined command structure amongst county and city governments and the local health department, which allows for a coordinated response across independent jurisdictions.”

The report, produced by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, details the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Joint Information Center (JIC) set up by Smith County, the City of Tyler and the Northeast Texas Public Health District (NetHealth). The document also notes that The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler has been instrumental in helping the EOC track suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the area, as well as providing testing analysis and reporting through its Public Health Laboratory of East Texas.

In explaining the operational structure of the plan, “Pandemic Resilience” recognizes Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran, Tyler Mayor Martin Heines and local officials with NetHealth and the Tyler Fire Department for their leadership. The analysis details the planning, logistics, operations and finance elements of running a successful, multi-jurisdiction pandemic response. These divisions of responsibility ensure that regulatory authority, communication, procurement, screening and testing, contact tracing and isolation of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients are all carried out efficiently and tracked accurately.

Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP, is president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. He says he’s proud to see East Texas officials get the recognition they deserve.

“Judge Moran, Mayor Heines and so many other leaders from around our region have come together in such a positive and effective way to respond to this pandemic,” Calhoun noted. “It’s refreshing to see them recognized for that achievement, and to know that what they’ve done will be used as a model for regional response all over the United States and, possibly, the world.”

The “Pandemic Resilience” analysis, which was produced in cooperation with The Rockefeller Foundation, also includes federal policy and funding recommendations to promote COVID-19 testing and tracking as the most effective tools to limit the spread of the virus. It argues that, a national strategy implementing testing, tracing and supported isolation programs, such as those in East Texas, “would replace blanket stay-at-home orders with targeted isolation and would save both lives and livelihoods.”

To download “Pandemic Resilience,” click this link: https://uthctprd.wpengine.com/d/COVID-19/Pandemic_Resilience_-_Getting_It_Done_-_supplement.pdf. The section recognizing the East Texas COVID-19 pandemic response begins on page 58.