1. The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA) is enhancing infectious disease response.
CFA was launched in April 2022 to provide decision support resources using forecasts, models, and outbreak analytics to improve the quality and speed of outbreak response. This is the first time the US government has created an organization specifically to provide these resources to CDC and other government entities. Public health measures should be focused to provide the greatest health benefit with the least disruption. As importantly, in emergencies they must often be formulated with imperfect information. Forecasts of the likely course of disease spread and models of how specific interventions could help control it can help individuals, businesses, and governments make better decisions, much in the way that weather science has evolved over the past century to prevent or lessen the impacts of weather-related events.
While the field has grown in recent years, domestically, infectious disease modeling has largely been confined to universities, with small teams working on specific projects. CFA will provide a central, reliable resource for decision makers while working with and financially supporting academic, government, and private partners to improve and standardize public health data and develop new and better ways to do infectious disease modeling and analytics.
2. CFA is developing innovative technological solutions that improve outbreak response.
CFA is currently supporting CDC and Executive Branch leadership, and is developing capacity to support state, tribal, local, territorial, and public partners as well as international stakeholders with decision support products that include risk assessments, forecasts, and longer-range scenario models to support outbreak response.
