The Comprehensive COVID-19 Response Cascade

Mitigation strategies including mask wearing, social distancing, safe workspaces, and targeted closures are proven strategies to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

Widespread testing is critical to a more effective COVID-19 response, as it allows for faster linkages to care, contact tracing, and connections to resources for supported isolation. Testing and rapid access to results must be available to all, regardless of geography, income, or race.

Robust contact tracing that facilitates safe quarantine breaks chains of transmission of COVID-19, stops the spread, and saves lives. A comprehensive contact tracing program includes case investigation, identifying known exposed contacts, and providing support for both positive cases and exposed individuals.

The success of contact tracing hinges on the ability of cases and contacts to safely isolate and quarantine. Without resources to ensure everyone can do so safely, people may be forced to choose between meeting basic needs and quarantining. Through care resource coordination, jurisdictions can address the social determinants of health and reduce disparities currently exacerbated by fragmented social service ecosystems.

Safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines are an important tool for protecting individuals and ending the pandemic. But vaccines without a distribution system that prioritizes people most at risk will have limited impact and deepen inequities. We must build a system now for rapid, widespread, and equitable vaccine distribution, integrated as part of a comprehensive public health response.