Northeastern Spotlight

Spring 2020 Volume 15 – Number 1

News and Announcements

Contributions of TB Programs to the COVID-19 Response

TB clinicians and program staff across the country have stepped up to contribute their experience in fighting another infectious disease killer to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As widespread contact tracing efforts get under way, public health staff working in TB will be called upon for their longstanding knowledge and skills in interviewing patients and serve as a valuable resource in adapting these techniques for COVID-19. Recognizing the expertise that members of the TB community are bringing to the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Global TB Institute acknowledges and thanks all of the heroes who are working tirelessly on the front lines to protect the public’s health.

Here are a few of their experiences and stories:

		Connecticut Department of Public Health: TB Nurse Consultant and Epidemiologist, Danielle Orcutt, MPH, RN, CHES, is serving as a local health liaison for calls and e-mails received by the state Emergency Command Center and supporting teleworking for case managers throughout the state. Alison Stratton, PhD, TB Program Manager, has been responding to COVID-19-related inquiries from refugee agencies regarding travel, quarantine and grant reporting. She is involved in redirecting TB staff so they can focus on COVID-19 by organizing payroll changes, re-organizing TB medication inventory, and coordinating teleworking schedules to insure provider capacity. Alison has also received a few inquiries from other states regarding TB testing requirements in light of a surge in hiring for nursing homes.
Danielle Orcutt conducts in-person DOT for an MDR-TB patient, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

Delaware Department of Health and Social Services:  
TB Program Manager and Nurse Consultant, Crystal Vicidomini, RN, MBA, is spending most of her time working at the State Health Operations Center responding to COVID-19 inquiries from the public and referring callers for testing. Crystal shares that several of the TB clinic staff are also working on COVID-19 response activities but have maintained TB services by using video directly observed therapy.

State of New Jersey:
Rutgers Global Tuberculosis Institute and Department of Health staff members Juana Canela, Haley Hudson (CDC assignee), Maria Roman, Arlene Williams, MA, and Mark Wolman, MPH are using their experience to assist in COVID-19 case interviewing and contact tracing for the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH). 

Arlene Williams is currently assisting with COVID-19 contact tracing for NJDOH		COVID-19 Medical Team including Drs. Alfred Lardizabal, Anmol Mittal, Willy Roque, and Maddhea Siddique at New Jersey Medical School

Microbiologists, Tunisia King and Tilat Choudhry, from New Jersey Public Health and Environmental laboratories are assisting with COVID-19 samples from the State laboratory and are simultaneously working on the necessary identification and susceptibility testing on TB test samples so TB clinics are able to get test results every day.

		Rutgers Global Tuberculosis Institute physicians, David Cennimo, MD, Alfred Lardizabal, MD, and Amee Patrawalla, MD, MPH have all been working overtime in critical care settings and bedside with hospitalized persons with CV while caring for persons with TB in the ambulatory care setting. Dr. David Cennimo has also been contributing to appropriate media messages around COVID-19 and its impact on our daily lives.
Dr. David Cennimo has been caring for hospitalized patients with COVID-19

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
Stephanie McLemore, RN, TB Nurse Consultant at the West Virginia Department of Health has been acting as a public health consultant for COVID-19 related issues, responding to inquiries from healthcare facilities, health professionals and the general public. Stephanie has also been assisting in COVID-19 data entry and analysis.