This editorial by Peter Tugwell and colleagues introduces a themed issue (open access) of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. (HIFA member Peter Tugwell generously provided expert help with the 2011 external evaluation of HIFA supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.)
“Never let a crisis go to waste”: how science has responded to the covid-19 pandemic
Peter Tugwell, David Tovey, Carlos A. Cuella-Garcia
J Clin Epidemiology - Editorial| volume 131, pa5-a6, march 01, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.02.001
'This March marks a year since Covid-19 lockdowns were instituted in many countries. JCE put out a call for articles that address methodological challenges to studying the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. We have received 322 submissions to-date and have published the 20 shown in Table 1. Whilst not wishing in any way to minimise the morbidity and mortality impact of the pandemic, the articles demonstrate that in in the midst of a global crisis the clinical epidemiologic community has responded with energy and considerable imagination. This is exemplified by a number of major clinical COVID-19 programmatic initiatives that are meaningfully influencing practice and commentary policy. As Djulbegovic and Guyatt describe in their editorial, ‘the application of EBM and GRADE is never more important than in times of health crisis affecting millions of people...’
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org
