Pandemic Solutions Group

The Pandemic Solutions Group (formerly the Testing Solutions Group) is a network of public officials spanning U.S. cities, states, counties, and tribal nations devoted to rapidly scaling Covid-19 testing, tracing, and vaccinations in their communities.
GOAL:

In May of 2020, The Rockefeller Foundation created the Testing Solutions Group to facilitate the exchange of best practices for public health authorities and officials working to scale up pandemic preparedness and response with an immediate focus on Covid-19 testing and tracing. Beginning in January 2021, this learning group evolved into the Pandemic Solutions Group (PSG). While topics related to frequent and widespread testing remain a priority for this group, this change reflects The Foundation’s commitment to helping public officials navigate the intersecting demands of testing, vaccination, and other public health measures in the months ahead.

 

HOW IT WORKS: The Rockefeller Foundation convenes the Group every two weeks to:

Peer Network:
• Drive collaboration about promising initiatives at both the state and local levels
• Engage directly with technical experts and colleagues
• Facilitate the exchange of on-the-ground challenges and real-time solutions associated with testing, vaccination, and related pandemic response topics

Knowledge Products:
• Package the insights shared through the Pandemic Solutions Group (PSG)
• Develop strategy and policy recommendations that support government officials and other community leaders and their leadership teams.

Learning:
• Support public officials and other community leaders to collect real-time data, evidence, and feedback to improve strategies.

Pandemic Solutions Group Structure:

The bipartisan group of senior public health officials across over 50 U.S. cities, states, and Tribal Nations, as well as representatives from leading academic institutions and community organizations, convenes virtually every two weeks to discuss a range of pertinent pandemic response topics. The Centre for Public Impact – a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded by Boston Consulting Group to reimagine government – provides oversight and support as the Pandemic Solutions Group’s Secretariat.

an outline of health care workers with a blue cloud displayed above them.

Participants: 

  1. Public Health Leaders: The PSG convenes participants across levels of government and sectors. Examples of attendees include, but are not limited to, state public health department directors, city chief innovation officers, executives of community and non-profit organizations, and others.
  2. Invited Experts: Technical experts and nationally recognized public health officials such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Francis Collins, and Dr. Helene Gayle meet with the PSG to share knowledge and help answer real-time questions from participants as they respond to community needs.

Previous sessions have covered topics ranging from strategies to reopen K-12 schools to practical lessons from antigen testing implementation to community-driven strategies for equitable vaccination.

Pandemic Solutions Group Members

Demand-driven and local-solutions centric, this bipartisan, broad-based coalition of more than 50 U.S. cities, states, and tribes is committed to scaling up access to testing for Covid-19 and collaborating with other leaders and experts to find solutions to common challenges – and get their citizens back to work more safely.

Why this matters

Collaboration and continued knowledge sharing are imperative to ending the Covid-19 pandemic. Decision-makers need real-time insight into best practices for key public health strategies, including testing, vaccine distribution, public messaging, and social distancing policies. The PSG connects public officials with technical experts and other practitioners so they can gather and share knowledge to create tailored solutions that adequately address their community’s needs.

Additional Covid-19 Response Tools & Resources

  • Taking Back Control. A Resetting of America’s Response to Covid-19 Plan

    Our third Action Plan lays out a new plan for the largest domestic testing scale up to date and proposes 14 executive actions for the current and incoming administrations to take in order to rapidly alter the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States. Testing all U.S. public K-12 public schools would cost $42.5 billion, or $8.5 billion per month for the remainder of the school year from February to June 2021

  • Risk Assessment and Testing Considerations for Reducing SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in K-12 Schools

    As schools across the country strive to safely return to in-person classes, a new report by the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security with support from The Rockefeller Foundation provides the first application of a detailed framework to provide guidance to America’s school administrators on how best to screen for and stop or reduce the spread of, Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) in their schools.

  • Messaging Handbook

    This Handbook draws on insights from cognitive science, linguistics, focus groups, and a nationally representative message-testing survey. It includes audience insights, tested language and science-based do’s and don’ts that public health officials can use to transform their communications.

  • Covid Testing Communications Toolkit

    The Testing Toolkit helps translate public health goals into motivating, clear messages that educate Americans about why, when, and where to get tested — even if they feel healthy. All materials are open access, completely free to use, and customizable.

  • Additional Covid-19 Response Resources

    The Rockefeller Foundation is developing new resources based on real-time data and insights from public officials, experts, and leaders across the U.S.

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