GS01 - Opening General Session - COVID-19 Response Briefing: Perspectives from the Field – Where Do We Go From Here?

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

2:30 PM – 4:30 PM EDT

Sponsored By:

Moderator(s)

John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH, FACOEM

Director of the Centers for Preparedness and Response With CDC

Keynote Speaker(s)

Bill Whitmar, MS

Laboratory Director
Missouri State Public Health Laboratory
Cathy Slemp, MD, MPH

Former Commissioner and State Health Director, West Virginia
Sherri L. Davidson, Ph.D., M.P.H

Interim State Epidemiologist
Epidemiology, Surveillance, & Informatics Infectious Diseases & Outbreaks Division Alabama Department of Public Health
Jennifer C. Kertanis, MPH

Director - Farmington Valley Health District

With more than 4 million cases and nearly 150,000 deaths, COVID-19 has been the worst pandemic in U.S. history since the 1918 Spanish Flu. In the months since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the pandemic a public health emergency, the public health, healthcare and emergency management sectors have worked tirelessly on the front lines to mitigate transmission, deliver care to sick patients, educate communities, and plan for mass vaccination – all within a highly politicized landscape. There is much to be learned from this first phase of response as we continue the effort to slow the spread. In this session, representatives from the Federal, State, Local and Laboratory communities will brief attendees and share their experiences with the pandemic response.