WASHINGTON POST - The pandemic has upended norms of the scientific process, from the way studies are funded through the publication of findings. Researchers have been presenting their results online or sending them directly to media outlets rather than awaiting publication in prestigious academic journals. And the stodgy process of peer review has evolved into forthright — and sometimes acrimonious — assessments in the unbridled atmosphere of the Internet.
As a result, modelers, like other scientists, have been scrambling to fund and ramp up their operations. The upshot is a lack of agility that has always haunted public health, said Donald S. Burke, professor of health science and policy and dean emeritus at Pitt Public Health.
“Things that aren’t yet a problem don’t get attention,” he said. “Yesterday’s problem is funded for a few years.”
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10/22/2020