One year of a pandemic in brief

March 2nd, 2021. One year ago, today, the first two cases of infection through SARS-CoV-2 were diagnosed in Portugal. Throughout the year in which the pandemic evolved, the Instituto de Saúde Pública do Porto (ISPUP) made a daily contribution to responding to this new public health challenge, mobilising many of its researchers with a common goal in mind.

The information obtained and knowledge produced was always integrated in the areas that we aim to cultivate: infectiology, epidemiology, biostatistics, mathematical modelling, geography, psychology, sociology, nutrition, and communication.

Thus,

a) we created a forum open to the community to clarify questions and doubts about SARS-CoV-2;

b) we opened a telephone helpline aimed at the participants of our cohorts;

c) we have launched, in collaboration with INESC TEC, the Diaries of a Pandemic: diariosdeumapandemia.inesctec.pt;

d) we took part in the development of the mobile app StayAway COVID;

e) we produced a series of scientific texts: “From the emergency of a novel human virus to the global spread of a new disease”;

f) we led the serological screening of workers and students of public higher education in Porto, particularly at the Universidade do Porto;

g) we have developed an app that monitors the infection indicators and predicts its evolution in 7 days’ time;

h) we have initiated several projects, namely with competitive funding, in domains which are particularly relevant to the understanding of COVID-19 and the production of knowledge that is indispensable in the design of proper individual and population responses, covering aspects as diverse as pregnancy and the perinatal period, clinical trials with pharmaceuticals (montelukast), the immune response to infection, and the frequency and identification of the determinants of long COVID-19 infection, the effect of the infection on gender relations, its effect on cognitive performance and cognition, or how COVID-19 induced changes in the response of health services to various pathologies, including cancer;

i) two PhD projects focusing on SARS-CoV-2 infection were initiated;

j) we have participated in hundreds of moments of communication directed at society in general through various media platforms, social networks, or by participating in thematic webinars;

k) we have analysed relevant information for a better epidemiological understanding of the course of infection in Portugal, focusing on providing original, rigorous, and credible information for public policy decisions, as presented in the 16 “Infarmed meetings”.

Now that a year has passed, we will continue on working to improve the understanding of this public health problem, by investigating and training high quality human resources – a clear need of the country and the world!

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