Over one million Americans who have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 are likely to experience lingering effects for three or more months. These post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC, or “long COVID”) may include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, aching joints, incident depression, and “brain fog.” The symptoms of PCC are varied, the cause and duration unclear. Abt Associates (Abt), a global consulting and research firm, proposes to assist the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in defining this ill-defined syndrome and assessing its prevalence. Abt is well positioned to serve as the data coordinating center for the Tracking the Burden, Distribution, and Impact of Post COVID-19 Conditions in Diverse Populations for Children, Adolescents, and Adults (Track PCC) initiative, led by Principal Investigator Danielle Rentz Hunt, PhD, MPH. Abt recognizes the urgency of CDC’s Track PCC effort and can rapidly launch standardized and harmonized data collection from participant cohorts enrolled by the four planned (separately competed) sites, manage the data securely, and implement strict quality checks. Abt’s expert statisticians, epidemiologists, and data visualization specialists will conduct and present analyses and derive estimates of PCC prevalence and incidence based on patient registries provided by each site. Abt is already playing a critical role in the surveillance of, research on, and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have led the design, implementation, and data coordination for 15 NCIRD and NCEH research and surveillance platforms, including six estimating COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE), rates of infection and illness, and clinical epidemiology of COVID-19. We maintain excellent relationships with CDC and with our collaborating sites; seven sites have provided letters supporting our candidacy for Track PCC.
