Fireside Chat, Conference Presentation
A Conversation with CDC Director Mandy Cohen | Future of Health Summit 2024
- The CDC anticipates increased cases of COVID, flu, RSV, avian flu, mpox, marburg, and Lassa virus during the upcoming winter season and plans to maintain a "warm surge capacity" with commercial laboratories to scale testing.
- The agency will leverage a new national wastewater infrastructure and real-time monitoring covering 90 to 95 percent of emergency rooms to detect threats like avian flu, mpox, conjunctivitis, stomach flu, and chest pain.
- Transmission of avian flu from a recent Canadian case to the US is predicted to be potentially via wild birds pending genetic analysis, while vaccine rates dropping post-pandemic are expected to drive an increase in US measles cases.
- New data released today confirms a reduction in fatal overdoses from 2% to 13%, with a further increase in this positive trend expected alongside a critical intervention strategy connecting survivors to immediate care.
- The CDC warns that proposed budgets could eliminate funding for overdose and suicide prevention, and forecasts that the majority of the national wastewater monitoring network will cease effective function without continued CDC support.
- Current strategic focus includes quick data releases to enable immediate public action, reliance on high community vaccine coverage for herd immunity, and maintaining these initiatives regardless of election outcomes.
- Dr. Cohen expects to transition leadership to a successor within the next 60 days to continue the current strategic direction before pursuing a future career path to advocate for healthy communities.