Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link

Disclaimer: Early release articles are not considered as final versions. Any changes will be reflected in the online version in the month the article is officially released.

Volume 31, Number 11—November 2025

Research

Community-Driven, Text Message–Based COVID-19 Surveillance System, Los Angeles County, California, USA, 2020–2024

Jordan B. Braunfeld, Elizabeth Traub, Howard Chiou, Aryana T. Amoon, Christina Collins, Allison Joyce, Justin Buendia, Prabhu Gounder, and Annabelle de St. Maurice
Author affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (J.B. Braunfeld); Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA (J.B. Braunfeld, E. Traub, H. Chiou, A.T. Amoon, C. Collins, A. Joyce, J. Buendia, P. Gounder, A. de St. Maurice)

Main Article

Figure 3

Trends in COVID-like illness responses to the Angelenos in Action community-driven, text message–based COVID-19 surveillance system used in Los Angeles County, California, USA, 2020–2024, by MMWR influenza season (10). A response was designated as a COVID-like illness if the respondent indicated they were sick and answered yes to both symptom-specific questions. The colored diamonds correspond to the peak rate for each year. MMWR, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; WK, week.

Figure 3. Trends in COVID-like illness responses to the Angelenos in Action community-driven, text message–based COVID-19 surveillance system used in Los Angeles County, California, USA, 2020–2024, by MMWR influenza season (10). A response was designated as a COVID-like illness if the respondent indicated they were sick and answered yes to both symptom-specific questions. The colored diamonds correspond to the peak rate for each year. MMWR, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; WK, week.

Main Article

References
  1. Oskvarek  JJ, Zocchi  MS, Black  BS, Celedon  P, Leubitz  A, Moghtaderi  A, et al.; US Acute Care Solutions Research Group. Emergency department volume, severity, and crowding since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Ann Emerg Med. 2023;82:65060. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Los Angeles County DPH Health Advisory. COVID-19 guidance—optimizing N95 supplies and managing mild illness. March 4, 2020 [cited 2024 Dec 30]. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eprp/lahan/alerts/LAHANVCOVID030420.pdf
  3. van Noort  SP, Codeço  CT, Koppeschaar  CE, van Ranst  M, Paolotti  D, Gomes  MG. Ten-year performance of Influenzanet: ILI time series, risks, vaccine effects, and care-seeking behaviour. Epidemics. 2015;13:2836. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Paolotti  D, Carnahan  A, Colizza  V, Eames  K, Edmunds  J, Gomes  G, et al. Web-based participatory surveillance of infectious diseases: the Influenzanet participatory surveillance experience. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2014;20:1721. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Smolinski  MS, Crawley  AW, Baltrusaitis  K, Chunara  R, Olsen  JM, Wójcik  O, et al. Flu near you: crowdsourced symptom reporting spanning 2 influenza seasons. Am J Public Health. 2015;105:212430. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Outbreaks Near Me. Who we are [cited 2024 Dec 30]. https://outbreaksnearme.org/us/en-US/who-we-are
  7. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Standardized surveillance case definition and national notification for 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) [cited 2024 Dec 30]. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.cste.org/resource/resmgr/2020ps/Interim-20-ID-01_COVID-19.pdf
  8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR weeks. 2013 [cited 2025 May 16]. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/22305
  9. RESPWatch | LA County DPH. Technical notes [cited 2024 Dec 30]. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/respwatch/index.htm#TechnicalNotes
  10. County of Los Angeles, Internal Services Department, Information Technology Services, Geographic Information Systems Section. Los Angeles County population estimates (July 1, 2022) [cited 2024 Dec 30]. http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/epi/docs/2022-LAC-Population-8RE.pdf
  11. Sunquest Public Health. Los Angeles County department of public health integrated reporting, investigation, and surveillance system (IRIS) and virtual confidentiality morbidity report (vCMR) [cited 2024 Dec 30]. http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard
  12. Boehm  AB, Wolfe  MK, Bidwell  AL, Zulli  A, Chan-Herur  V, White  BJ, et al. Human pathogen nucleic acids in wastewater solids from 191 wastewater treatment plants in the United States. Sci Data. 2024;11:1141. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. Wastewater  SCAN. About the dashboard [cited 2024 Dec 30]. https://data.wastewaterscan.org/about
  14. Uyeki  TM, Hui  DS, Zambon  M, Wentworth  DE, Monto  AS. Influenza. Lancet. 2022;400:693706. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Wu  Y, Xu  S, Shen  X, Cheng  J, Chai  J, Feng  R, et al. Trajectories of symptoms and healthcare use following respiratory tract infections in rural Anhui, China:a cross-sectional study. J Infect Public Health. 2020;13:193945. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. Moran  KR, Fairchild  G, Generous  N, Hickmann  K, Osthus  D, Priedhorsky  R, et al. Epidemic forecasting is messier than weather forecasting: the role of human behavior and internet data streams in epidemic forecast. J Infect Dis. 2016;214(suppl_4):S4048. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. Peppa  M, John Edmunds  W, Funk  S. Disease severity determines health-seeking behaviour amongst individuals with influenza-like illness in an internet-based cohort. BMC Infect Dis. 2017;17:238. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. Galanti  M, Comito  D, Ligon  C, Lane  B, Matienzo  N, Ibrahim  S, et al. Active surveillance documents rates of clinical care seeking due to respiratory illness. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2020;14:499506. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. Macinko  J, Woolley  NO, Seixas  BV, Andrade  FB, Lima-Costa  MF. Health care seeking due to COVID-19 related symptoms and health care cancellations among older Brazilian adults: the ELSI-COVID-19 initiative. Cad Saude Publica. 2020;36(Suppl 3):e00181920. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Brook  CE, Northrup  GR, Ehrenberg  AJ, Doudna  JA, Boots  M; IGI SARS-CoV-2 Testing Consortium. Optimizing COVID-19 control with asymptomatic surveillance testing in a university environment. Epidemics. 2021;37:100527. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. Huffman  EM, Athanasiadis  DI, Anton  NE, Haskett  LA, Doster  DL, Stefanidis  D, et al. How resilient is your team? Exploring healthcare providers’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Surg. 2021;221:27784. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. Nguyen  N, Lane  B, Lee  S, Gorman  SL, Wu  Y, Li  A, et al. A mixed methods study evaluating acceptability of a daily COVID-19 testing regimen with a mobile-app connected, at-home, rapid antigen test: Implications for current and future pandemics. PLoS One. 2022;17:e0267766. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. de Meijere  G, Valdano  E, Castellano  C, Debin  M, Kengne-Kuetche  C, Turbelin  C, et al. Attitudes towards booster, testing and isolation, and their impact on COVID-19 response in winter 2022/2023 in France, Belgium, and Italy: a cross-sectional survey and modelling study. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2023;28:100614. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Main Article

Page created: September 23, 2025
Page updated: November 26, 2025
Page reviewed: November 26, 2025
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external