Identifying COVID-19 Risk Through Observational Studies to Inform Control Measures
Mark W. Tenforde, Kiva A. Fisher, Manish M. Patel
Abstract
A year into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic there remains an urgent need to limit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread and to curb the pandemic in the US through nonpharmaceutical interventions.Clear evidence supports the effectiveness of simple strategies in identifying risks and mitigating the spread of infection, with much of this evidence coming from observational studies.Community risk factors for infection can be identified by comparing recent behaviors and exposures among people who have been infected with those who are not infected using a traditional case-control approach.High-risk environments identified from these investigations need to be clearly communicated to the public to support public health measures and motivate individual behavior change to reduce the risk of infection.