Early Surveillance and Public Health Emergency Response Measures to SARS, H1N1, and COVID-19: A Case-Comparative Study

Abstract Objective At present, COVID-19 has already spread rapidly as a global pandemic, just like SARS in 2003 and H1N1 swine influenza in 2009. This study analyzes surveillance and emergency responses to these three epidemics to identify gaps in public health emergency management. Methods This case-comparative study uses 6 critical time points to evaluate and compare the responses. Results Results indicate that China has demonstrated improvements in pathogen identification and governmental coordination since the SARS outbreak, though its overall responsiveness during COVID-19 remained slower than that of the U.S. during the H1N1 pandemic. Specifically, the total response time for COVID-19 was 47 days—64 days faster than during SARS, but still 19 days slower than the U.S. response to H1N1. Conclusions Big data technology is crucial for China’s epidemic prevention and control, and has a significant influence on future detection and prevention.