The value of knowledge in the response of the health system to COVID-19

The objective of this project is to analyze the value of knowledge in responding to problems as critical as the one the world is facing with the pandemic. This interesting case study allows us to appreciate not only the importance of having knowledge (discoveries of biomedicine) and applying it (production of treatments and vaccines); but it also allows us to examine how a country, particularly Spain, responds to important problems and the ability to cope of their public health care system (e.g. human resources, technological equipment/infrastructure, organization, management, etc.). An important aspect of this knowledge involves the impact on health and on the economy of the measures implemented to control de spread and avoid the collapse of hospitals. During the last year, much progress was made in the modeling of non-pharmacological public health care interventions and their impact, and in the creation and global sharing of large epidemiological databases.