Community Organizing, School Health Programs, Data Sources, and Public Health COVID-19 Response

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering communicable disease epidemiology, community organizing principles, school health infrastructure, federal vital statistics sources, and campus public health response protocols.

Epidemiologic Triangle

A foundational model used to explain the etiology and pathogenesis of infectious diseases, emphasizing the interaction among three components: agent, host, and environment.

Agent (Infectious Disease)

The biological, chemical, or physical element or pathogen that must be present for a specific communicable disease to occur.

Host (Infectious Disease)

Any susceptible living organism (such as a human or animal) that is invaded and harbored by an infectious agent.

Non-Specific Defense Mechanisms

Innate host barriers that resist pathogens regardless of prior exposure, including skin, mucosal surfaces, tears, saliva, and gastric juices.

Herd Immunity

Indirect protection of an entire community from an infectious illness that occurs when a high proportion (typically at least $85\text{--}90\%$) is immune, making transmission chains difficult to sustain.

Environment (Infectious Disease)

The domain external to the host in which an infectious agent can survive, originate, or transmit, comprising physical, social, and economic influences such as temperature and sanitation.

Vector

An animate intermediary transport mechanism, such as a mosquito, tick, or louse, that carries and transfers an infectious agent between a reservoir or host and the environment.

Isolation

The separation and confinement of individuals who are confirmed to be ill with a communicable disease from non-infected individuals to prevent further transmission.

Quarantine

The restriction of activities and separation of individuals who have been exposed to a communicable agent but are not yet symptomatic, to observe if infection develops.

Chain of Infection

A step-by-step model depicting the transmission pathway of an infectious disease: pathogen, reservoir, portal of exit, transmission mode, portal of entry, and establishment of infection in a new host.

Case Fatality Rate (CFR)

The proportion of diagnosed cases of a disease that result in death, calculated as: $\text{CFR} = \left(\frac{\text{Number of Deaths}}{\text{Number of Diagnosed Cases}}\right) \times 100$.

Community Organizing

The art and process of consensus building through which communities identify common issues or goals, mobilize resources, and implement collective problem-solving strategies.

Social Ecological Approach

A framework recognizing that health behavior is shaped by interconnected influences across multiple levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community, physical environment, culture, and public policy.

Initial Organizer

The person or entity who recognizes a community problem and initiates action, originating either from within the community (grass-roots/bottom-up) or externally (top-down/outside-in).

Gatekeepers

Individuals who formally or informally control access and the political climate of a community, such as politicians, clergy members, teachers, or respected opinion leaders.

Community Building

A strength-based orientation toward community development that focuses on identifying, nurturing, and celebrating community assets rather than primarily analyzing deficits.

Needs Assessment

A formal, systematic data-collection and analysis process used to identify specific concerns, problems, and resource gaps in a target population.

Mapping Community Capacity

The process of identifying, categorizing, and mobilizing existing assets, capabilities, and resources within a community, distinct from assessing its needs or problems.

Turfism

Protectionism and territorial rivalry among different subgroups, organizations, or stakeholders within a community organizing initiative.

North Karelia Project

A pioneer community-based intervention launched in Finland in the early 1970s under Pekka Puska that lowered world-record heart disease rates using dietary modification, media, industry, and public policy.

Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP)

An organized set of policies, procedures, and activities designed to protect, promote, and enhance the physical, emotional, and social health and well-being of pre-K–12 students and school staff.

School Health Coordinator

A trained professional (frequently a registered nurse) operating at the state, district, or school level who oversees the planning, management, and evaluation of CSHP policies and resources.

Healthy School Environment

A legally mandated school climate that protects student health, encompassing both the physical environment (building safety, air quality) and the psychosocial environment (attitudes, culture, emotional safety).

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

A division of the CDC serving as the principal federal agency responsible for compiling, analyzing, and disseminating vital health statistics and survey findings across the United States.

National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

A continuous, annual nationwide household interview survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized U.S. population conducted by the NCHS to collect data on health status, behaviors, and healthcare utilization.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

An NCHS mobile examination program assessing clinical morbidity, nutrition, and standard physiological norms through physical exams and lab tests on approximately $5{,}000$ individuals per year across $15$ counties.

Underlying Cause of Death

The specific disease, external trauma, or circumstance that initiated the sequential train of morbid events resulting directly in death, recorded on the lowest line of Part I on a death certificate.

Immediate Cause of Death

The final disease, injury complication, or terminal condition directly resulting in death, recorded on line (a) of Part I on a standard death certificate.

Case Investigation

A public health intervention wherein public health staff contact a confirmed infectious individual to evaluate symptom onset, identify potential contacts, connect them to medical support, and monitor isolation.

Contact Tracing

The systematic identification, notification, and monitoring of persons who have had close contact with an infected individual to interrupt ongoing transmission chains.

Outbreak Investigation

A specialized investigative process that tracks shared epidemiologic point connections—such as identical workspaces, supervisors, carpools, or venues—among clusters of infectious cases.

California Notify (CA Notify)

A statewide, privacy-preserving Bluetooth notification technology that alerts mobile phone users if they have spent more than $15\,\text{minutes}$ within proximity to an individual confirmed positive for COVID-19.

Cal/OSHA Indoor Close Contact Standard

An occupational health regulation redefining indoor close contact as sharing any indoor airspace measuring less than $400{,}000\,\text{cubic feet}$ with an infected person, superseding the traditional six-foot rule.

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture)

A secure, HIPAA-compliant web application used by the public health data team to organize, manage, clean, and store complex line-list datasets for case and outbreak tracking.

Fusion Center (UCSD)

A collaborative emergency management model integrating public health teams directly with fire, police, and campus operations into a centralized hub to coordinate responses to institutional crises.