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Is precision public health the future — or a contradiction?

Some public-health researchers are embracing data and technology to target small groups with precise health interventions. Others fear that these tactics could fail millions.
  1. Carrie Arnold

    1. Carrie Arnold is a freelance writer in Richmond, Virginia.

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A man undergoes a nasal swab by a health care worker at a mobile COVID-19 testing site in Manhattan

A man has a nasal swab at a mobile COVID-19 testing site in Manhattan, New York City. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times/Redux/eyevine

From their offices in a high-rise building in Queens, epidemiologist Sharon Greene and her colleagues watched the COVID-19 pandemic sweep through New York City in April 2020. Using an open-source data-analytics program called SaTScan, her team mapped outbreaks as they unfolded across individual neighbourhoods, almost in real time. This sophisticated approach relied on detailed data from hospitals and laboratories, and showed that the virus wasn’t affecting all New Yorkers equally. That knowledge helped Greene’s team at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to distribute testing resources and protective gear such as masks and gloves to the right places.

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Nature 601, 18-20 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03819-2

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 11 January 2022: An earlier version of this News feature gave an out-of-date affiliation for Caitlin Allen.

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