Dana Crawford, PhD, recently spoke to WBUR’s Here & Now (NPR Boston) about genomic sequencing and tracking the spread of COVID variants. She notes that the US is doing a better job at flagging and sequencing potential new variants than earlier in the pandemic. That said, she also notes that the public health system is still fragmented and genomic databases are not linked to clinical data. This makes it difficult to quickly answer questions about the severity of new variants in terms of clinical presentation and outcomes. Listen here. (Click on the red arrow on the WBUR page.)
Dr. Crawford also commented to The New York Times on genomic sequencing to track variants. That article is here.
She also commented to The Capsule, a Fortune magazine special newsletter focused on health care and biopharma. That newsletter is here.