Research Program

The COVID-19 Initiative

COVID-19 has cost millions of lives worldwide, overwhelmed healthcare systems, devastated economies and changed society for years to come. The Schaeffer Center’s COVID Initiative is working to improve public health and get people back to work without fear of infection.

Program Leadership

Neeraj Sood, PhD

Director, COVID Initiative, USC Schaeffer Center
Vice Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, USC Price School of Public Policy
Professor of Public Policy, USC Price School of Public Policy

Featured Research

White Papers > Coronavirus (COVID-19)

COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates for School and Work Are Sound Public Policy

Vaccine mandates for employees and students are effective policy solutions to ensure the U.S. reaches herd immunity and avoids future outbreaks.

Journal Articles > Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Evaluation of the Abbott BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test in Children: Implications for Screening in a School Setting

Rapid antigen tests show promise for schools, especially if the schools use serial testing, such as twice a week.

Journal Articles > Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Effect of School Visits During COVID-19 on COVID-19 Transmission

Increases in county-level in-person visits to schools lead to an increase in COVID-19 diagnoses among households with children relative to households without school-age children. However, the magnitude is small.

Journal Articles > Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Shelter-in-Place Policies and Excess Mortality

To understand the net effects of shelter-in-place (SIP) policies, the researchers measure the change in excess deaths following the implementation of SIP policies in 43 countries and all U.S. states.

Presentation

Shelter-in-Place Policies and Excess Mortality

Shelter-in-place policies were one of the most widely used policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Neeraj Sood presented his research on the impact of these policies on excess mortality for a NBER research spotlight webinar.

Featured Perspectives

Leveraging Rapid Antigen Tests in School-Aged Children

Neeraj Sood, PhD and Rit Shukla

More Employers Should Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines for Workers — for the Health of their Business

Karen Mulligan, PhD and Jeffrey E. Harris, MD, PhD

Mandatory Masking of School Children is a Bad Idea

Neeraj Sood, PhD and Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD

Don’t Make Surgery Another COVID Casualty

Karen Van Nuys, PhD and Darius Lakdawalla, PhD

Data Visualization

Rapid COVID Tests Used Twice Weekly Could Detect Most Contagious School-Aged Kids

While COVID-19 hospitalizations are down, a new Schaeffer Center white paper highlights the importance of investing in minimally invasive technologies that will allow hospitals to prepare for future surges.

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Ongoing Studies

Los Angeles COVID Response Innovations

USC Schaeffer Center and Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Department of Preventive Medicine are collaborating with the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on a study to examine the use of coronavirus rapid antigen tests among first responders and school-aged children.

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Los Angeles Pandemic Surveillance Cohort Initiative

The study will follow as many as 3,000 county residents over time to better understand social inequities exposed by COVID-19 as well as other impacts of the pandemic.

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Program Team

Angela Klipp, MPP

Project Manager, The COVID Initiative
Rani Kotha, JD, MPH

Senior Strategist, USC Schaeffer Center
Anna Rodriguez-Vasquez, MPH

Clinical Research Supervisor, COVID Initiative, USC Schaeffer Center

Funding for the COVID Initiative has been provided by the USC Office of the President, USC Office of the Provost, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, Hilton Foundation, Jedel Family Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Office of Mayor Garcetti, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and various individual donors.