DHS Makes a Master List of Knowns and Unknowns of COVID-19 Outbreak

ImageFlow/Shutterstock

The agency developed the master question list as a reference for government decision-makers.

The Homeland Security Department recently launched and continues to update a new, living document that agency officials can use as a reference tool to inform the choices they must make in response to the COVID-19 crisis. 

Upon recognizing that there’s a range of knowledge gaps about the novel coronavirus itself that directly impact DHS’ policies and operations—and America’s entire medical emergency response community-at-large—the department created and released a Master Question List, or MQL. According to the latest version published March 26, the document “quickly summarizes what is known, what additional information is needed, and who may be working to address” fundamental questions about COVID-19. It’ll be updated “as needed when new information becomes available.” 

“The MQL is primarily intended to quickly present the current state of available information on operationally-relevant questions to government decision-makers to support structured and scientifically guided discussions without burdening them with the need to review scientific reports, as well as to prevent duplication of efforts by highlighting and coordinating research efforts,” Lloyd Hough, lead of DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate’s Hazard Awareness and Characterization Technology Center, told Nextgov Wednesday. “Given the breadth of the response to COVID-19, many stakeholders have different priorities—so hopefully the MQL allows each stakeholder to quickly find the relevant information they need for their mission.”

The department recently implemented the HAC-TC and the Probabilistic Analysis of National Threats, Hazards and Risks, or PANTHR, Program. Together, they help track the coronavirus’ outbreak and spread, coordinate research and interagency efforts as it escalates, and provide response resources like the MQL. 

While the 19-page document doesn’t provide operational guidance, Hough said it “allows users to quickly find information that is needed to inform operations, which is why every piece of information is referenced.” The citations enable users to go back to the information's primary source to inform their decisions. The document itself is broken up into columns that pose a variety of coronavirus-focused questions like, “How does it spread from one host to another?” and “What personal protective equipment is effective, and who should be using it?” 

Below the guiding questions are rows where information is listed in relation to the topics. The rows include, “what do we know?” which outlines the proven information out there, “what do we need to know?” which addresses knowledge gaps on the proposed topics, and “who is doing experiments/has capabilities in this area?” which lists many public, private, academic and international entities and individuals involved in the work.

Hough said the information source is already producing new insights.

“A significant gap that was identified through the MQL was that we did not know this virus’ stability in the environment and how it could be transmitted on surfaces,” Hough said. 

He explained that shipments from China were a concern during the start of the outbreak, but now that there is a significant number of cases in the U.S. and elsewhere, there’s also growing concern with contamination of other surfaces, such as those in medical facilities. 

“As a result, [the DHS S&T Directorate] initiated laboratory studies to determine how long the virus survives on different surfaces in different conditions—temperature, humidity, and sunlight. These studies are underway and results will be made available to the scientific, medical, and response communities as results are obtained,” Hough said. “An ideal outcome is that the data will inform the broader community on how long contaminated surfaces pose a hazard and will influence procedures for decontamination and personal protective equipment.”

Though the COVID-19 MQL is publicly available online, the original MQL format was first generated as an internal effort by department officials during the response to the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak. Back then, the information was meant to help guide discussions about how to leverage the S&T Directorate’s technical resources to support outbreak response, Hough said. In the process, the first Ebola virus MQL was shared with the agency’s partners and other stakeholders, who deemed it a “succinct and valuable summary of the literature supporting technical questions regarding response operations.”

“Given the value of the Ebola virus MQL, [the directorate] developed additional MQLs for a variety of biological agents, including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Coronavirus, which was used as a starting point for the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) MQL,” Hough said. Hough added that the current “SARS-CoV-2 MQL was initiated on Jan. 23, in response to the increased spread of COVID-19.”

The first confirmed case of novel coronavirus infection in the U.S. was reported on Jan. 20. 

All the data behind the information presented in the MQL comes from publicly available sources including reports and “articles found in scientific and technical journals, selected sources on the internet, and various media reports that have been assembled and evaluated by experts to ensure that information is valid,” Hough said. He added that a core team of between four and five subject matter experts “contribute to the continued technical revision of the MQL” by reviewing new insights and leveraging input from stakeholders. On top of that, a larger team of roughly 20 people “contribute to the process of updating the MQL and getting it posted publicly every week.” 

Prior to being posted online, the MQL was distributed by email and given to various interagency and international partners, but Homeland Security does not have comprehensive metrics on how widely it was previously shared. 

Between its rollout on March 18 and March 24, Hough said the current MQL page “has been viewed approximately 5,738 times.”

“The best case [scenario] is that stakeholders find the information contained in the MQL useful to guide discussions and decisions regarding COVID-19 response, research, and development,” Hough said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.