In March 2020, American Samoa closed its borders, effectively shutting out the coronavirus...as well as more than a thousand American Samoans nationwide and abroad. Their repatriation, or safe return home, would take planning, time—and four "miracle workers."

For a team of epidemiologists at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department, the work of tracing COVID cases and exposures was at first overwhelming for their small team. Then additional staff from the CDC Foundation COVID-19 Corps arrived.

As COVID-19 began spreading in the U.S., hospitals, first responders and public health agencies scrambled to acquire enough PPE to keep their staff and the public safe. But with supplies limited and demand surging, finding it was often next to impossible.

Through rain, snow, sleet, windstorms and even unexpected visits from wildlife, a dedicated trio of COVID-19 Corps healthcare workers are battling the pandemic—and the elements—in their native Alaska to provide COVID testing to the population of Anchorage and beyond.

While a number of existing CDC public health resources were accessible for people with some disabilities, there were others who needed guidance in different accessible formats including braille, American Sign Language, and simplified text or easy-to-read materials.

Meet the Regional Coordinators of the COVID-19 Corps, who guide staff through their work on the pandemic response across the U.S. and set them up for future success in the public-health field.

“We are the bearer of bad news, but if you can show compassion and let them know they're not alone, they really appreciate it,” says contact tracer Michelle Smith. “It’s not necessarily just about treating the symptoms but also the mental health part of it.”

Influencing the behavior of college students is tough under the best of circumstances. Throw a pandemic into the mix, and you’ve got a much more challenging situation. That’s where young CDC Foundation staffers like Gabe Trotz, Jordan Mills and McKenna Deaton come in.

Meet three young associate laboratory microbiologists who have been inspired to join the fight against COVID on behalf of their loved ones and their communities. All now work at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, with support from the CDC Foundation and TikTok.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Indonesia, one of the greatest challenges was presenting a united healthcare response across 14,000 islands, 514 districts and 35 provinces. But as president of the Indonesia Epidemiological Association (PAEI), it was a challenge Dr. Hariadi Wibisono had faced before.

Public-health professionals in the Motor City are helping out their hometown and making a difference as part of the COVID-19 Corps—with support from the CDC Foundation and TikTok.

“This is my gap year,” says recent graduate Anya Bazzell, MD. But it’s certainly not a year off, as in August, Bazzell relocated to Martha’s Vineyard to serve as the case investigator/contact tracer team lead for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).

"When COVID hit," says Tena Tiruneh of Heart to Heart International, "we asked ourselves, ‘Where can we do the most good?' We decided to focus on those who were asymptomatic because they could be the main factor in the spread of the virus and didn’t even know it.”

Since starting her work at the Santa Clara County Health Department, contact tracer Karem Valenzuela has seen first-hand how much of an impact her work can have on the community.

With correctional facilities nationwide accounting for more than 80% of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks, the need for guidance was great—particularly in Detroit, one of the big cities where it hit early. Meet the groundbreaking partnership that formed in response.

Vermont has been one of the most successful states in the nation when it comes to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. That's in no small part due to the team at the Vermont Department of Health, and their quick work in stopping outbreaks in their tracks.

This tight-knit team of ten COVID-19 Corps members didn’t know each other before joining the CDC Foundation initiative—but now they’ve become known in Pennsylvania public-health circles as “The Super Tracers.”

When it comes to effective emergency response, there's no substitute for experience. Meet some of the CDC Foundation's senior advisors who were hired to bring their deep public health backgrounds to provide help wherever they were needed.

Former nurses, recent college grads, workforce returnees and longstanding public health pros—they’re all bringing their varied backgrounds and talents to bear as members of the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 Corps.

For Seattle Fire Chief Scoggins, who oversees a department of more than 1,000, the threat from COVID-19 is a daily concern—especially when it comes to keeping his people protected. So in May 2020, SC Johnson and the CDC Foundation teamed up to help.

Seattle was the first major U.S. city to be hard hit by the coronavirus. So the University of Washington's School of Nursing was faced with a dilemma: how could they find a way to get their students the safe in-clinic training they needed to graduate?

The CDC Foundation hired surge public health workers through the CDC Foundation’s COVID-19 Corps to give Houston, TX, more capacity. These staff in as well as others in some of the country’s most-impacted areas, from Detroit, MI, to Santa Clara, CA, were hired with the help of a $15 million donation provided by TikTok.

Does COVID-19 transmit through breastmilk? Can mothers pass it on during pregnancy? What is its impact on maternal and child health after birth? These questions and more are what the investigators of the Pregnancy Coronavirus Outcomes Registry, or PRIORITY, hope to answer.

In any public health crisis, time is the most critical resource. That's why MITRE and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), with the support of the CDC Foundation, knew they needed to develop a new tool to help contact tracers work faster.

While social isolation may have become the new normal, for homeless people, staying healthy during a pandemic presents a unique challenge that requires unique solutions. A look inside one city's search for answers.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health organizations are on the front lines in the fight to save lives. But the rapid spread of the virus has stretched resources thin as public health organizations and healthcare providers combat the pandemic on multiple fronts.

Though COVID-19 has impacted communities around the world, it has not affected all communities equally. When a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team noticed that Latinx residents in parts of central Virginia were suffering disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 infection, they wanted to learn why.

Across the United States today, more than two million people have an opioid use disorder. As drug overdoses continue to increase nationwide, fewer and fewer families are left untouched by an epidemic that claims 130 lives in the United States each day.

When Dr. Evelyn McKnight was battling breast cancer in 2002, the last thing on her mind was Hepatitis C. So when she and her husband Thomas learned that she had contracted the virus from unsafe injection practices during her treatment, they were shocked.

The American Southwest is among the most ruggedly beautiful areas of the country. But for residents of the Navajo Nation, which encompasses more than 27,000 square miles of this region, the environment also brings with it an increased exposure to the deadly hantavirus.

Though the burden has drastically decreased in most industrialized nations, typhoid fever remains a serious health risk in much of the world. Spread through contaminated food and water, an estimated 26 million cases of typhoid fever occur worldwide each year, causing approximately 215,000 deaths. In countries like Zimbabwe, where the disease remains endemic, typhoid poses a recurring threat, particularly in the crowded urban areas around the capital city, Harare.

For the estimated 100,000 people in the United States who suffer from sickle cell disease, living with this potentially deadly blood disorder is a daily challenge. But in the fight against the disease, medical professionals have been hampered by a frustrating lack of data on how, when and where patients are accessing care.

The 2014 outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa moved disease preparedness into the global spotlight. Global health gaps in areas such as disease surveillance, laboratory capacity and workforce development have a direct impact on Americans’ health, safety and security.

Since Ebola was discovered in 1976, there have been 28 outbreaks worldwide and 10 in DRC alone—more than any other country. In addition to the current outbreak continuing to play out, there will be lasting consequences to this epidemic once it ends.

In the last few months, the Rhode Island Department of Health has seen a surge in staff working to tackle this public health crisis challenging states across the country.

Just weeks ago, Lily Rivera saved a life. On the corner of Peace and Broad in Providence, Rhode Island, Lily works at an agency that organizes outreach teams and provides education to high-risk populations struggling with opioid addiction.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans serve their country in the U.S. military. For many, their military experience becomes a building block for personal and professional development. For others, however, post-military life can bring challenges.

For many military veterans, the transition back to civilian life can be challenging. StackUp brings both veterans and civilian supporters together through a shared love of video gaming.

“A dollar spent on public health is one of the highest yielding investments possible,” says Bob Yellowlees, retired chairman of the boards of Global Payments, Inc. and NDC Health.

For the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, making a difference means getting ahead of the curve. A three-year pilot initiative seeks to provide a school-centered approach to combating the growing trend of substance use and risky sexual behavior among teens.

In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico. The island’s healthcare system was crippled by the storms, and electricity outages caused refrigeration to fail, destroying 90 percent of Puerto Rico’s flu vaccine.

Despite the fact that vaccination is one of the world’s most effective ways to save and protect lives, significant hurdles remain. But one collaborative team is on the verge of a breakthrough.

In the global fight against infectious disease threats, a strong first line of defense is critical. Yet in much of the developing world, community health officials and epidemiologists are under-prepared for widespread public health emergencies.

When working in the field, Dr. Karim Bougma is up early—some days rising at 3:00 a.m. to start his day. With a 3-D imaging device in hand, he joins a team each morning as they go house-to-house to collect body measurement data for children under five, which is being used to monitor and evaluate population, health and nutrition programs.

When looking back on the top news stories of 2017, one that certainly rises to the top is the record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season. Who can forget the series of hurricanes in late August and September that wreaked destruction on portions of the continental United States and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Each day headlines highlight dangerous disease outbreaks that strike fear because of their capacity to rapidly infect populations across the globe. Through the Global Health Security Agenda, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with 31 countries to accelerate their ability to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats. The CDC Foundation is supporting CDC's work with partners in the West African country of Burkina Faso to advance these Global Health Security efforts.

Without strong public health management and efficient organizational performance, many important global health initiatives in low-resource countries fall short of their intended goals. How can this challenge be addressed?

Did you know that sickle cell disease (SCD), is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 Americans? SCD can be extremely painful and is associated with a number of severe health complications.

With its yellow walls and simple tin roof, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (lab in Bo, Sierra Leone, would be easy to overlook. Although there were no indications that this tiny lab sat squarely on the front lines in the fight against Ebola, it was vital to efforts to turn back the epidemic in Sierra Leone.

Early on a Sunday morning in Liberia, West Africa, a small group of CDC Foundation staff, along with representatives of eHealth Africa and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, had the opportunity to see firsthand the challenges and successes that come with tracking down contacts of Ebola patients in Liberia.

Old Colony YMCA in Brockton, Massachusetts, recently discovered something startling: a single neighborhood more burdened by poor health such as asthma, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol than surrounding areas. Most surprising, however, was that this particular area had a lower prevalence of unhealthy behaviors like binge drinking than other locations within Brockton.

In 2016, Tashira, 22, of Puerto Rico got pregnant with her second child. Tashira didn’t plan to have another baby so soon, but she got pregnant when she ran out of birth control pills. During one summer visit to a health clinic in San Juan, Tashira disclosed her anxiety about the current Zika virus outbreak and the link between Zika infection during pregnancy and birth defects.

The thermometer nears 95 degrees at 8:00 a.m. in Laye, Burkina Faso, a small village about 20 miles from the capital city of Ouagadougou. Though the temperature will top 105 degrees today, the heat has not kept the mothers of a few dozen children from walking or biking to their local dispensary.