The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday the launch of a new center aimed at improving responses to COVID-19 and future pandemics.

The Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA) will focus on using data, models and analytics to more quickly and effectively inform decision-making at the federal, state and local levels in response to public health threats.

It also will develop a program to provide insights about infectious disease outbreaks to the public to help individuals make decisions. The CDC called the program “the equivalent of the National Weather Service for infectious diseases.”

“I am excited we have launched CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “This new center is an example of how we are modernizing the ways we prepare for and respond to public health threats. I am proud of the work that has come out of this group thus far and eager to see continued innovation in the use of data, modeling, and analytics to improve outbreak responses.”

The CFA is dividing its work into three areas: predicting, informing and innovating. The CDC said in a news release that it is assembling a “world-class outbreak analytics team” and hiring “expert communicators.” The center is housed at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

“The capabilities and team we are building at the new Center will improve decision-making in a health crisis,” said Dylan George, the CFA’s director for operations. “I am proud of the CFA team and excited for the future. Better data and analytics will give us better responses to protect all Americans.”

Planning for the center began in August 2021 with the initial funding of $200 million coming from the American Rescue Plan Act. The CDC already has awarded $26 million in funding to academic institutions and federal partners to advance modeling and forecasting methods. In December, CFA worked with academic partners to create models anticipating the COVID-19 omicron wave and generate early estimates on the variant's severity, helping leaders with their responses. 

CFA’s leaders say predicting the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has been hampered by data-collection problems.

In contrast, the United Kingdom uses regular population sampling with swab tests and blood draws to get a clearer picture of who’s been infected, said Marc Lipsitch, the new center’s science director. He said similar sampling should be considered in the U.S.

And the CDC needs to have better access to data from state governments and hospitals, said Caitlin Rivers, the center’s associate director.

The CDC has been granted temporary authority for COVID-19 data collection, but the agency broadly relies on voluntary reporting and complex data agreements with states, Rivers said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.