In her recent STAT News op-ed, Dr. Deborah Birx, former coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, calls for making public health data timely, local, and actionable—just like a weather forecast.
She points to innovative tools like ESSENCE®, a syndromic surveillance platform that analyzes emergency department, 911, and urgent care data in near real time, offering faster, localized insights to help communities respond proactively.
Dr. Birx emphasizes strengthening state and local surveillance capacity and the CDC’s National Syndromic Surveillance Program so communities have practical tools to detect early health signals and act before outbreaks escalate.
Read the full article: https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/05/public-health-data-weather-forecast/