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This research study explored whether residents living in historically redlined neighborhoods in New York City were at a higher risk for COVID-19 infection. Data revealed that zip code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) with higher proportions of black and Hispanic residents are associated with higher rates of COVID-19 infection. They also found that historically redlined ZCTAs had higher risks for COVID-19 infections, regardless of modern day economic privilege in the area. This study reminds readers that modern day health crises like the COVID pandemic cannot be regarded in isolation from SDoH and the history of racism.

This 25-minute video from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers insights and lessons learned from public health practitioners who leveraged social media to communicate with broad audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers actionable tips on how to identify messages, audiences, and formats. Guidance on style and messaging decisions will help refine quick-hit online messages for the broader public.

A large school district in Cincinnati partnered with their local health department and children’s hospital to develop mitigation procedures as children returned to school. These mitigation procedures successfully limited school-based spread of COVID-19 by combining best practices in rapid testing, contact tracing, and early isolation. Procedures were regularly revisited and updated in an iterative process to respond to new information and circumstances.

The Oregon county with the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the United States began its response in the earliest days of the pandemic. The county’s Emergency Operations Center wanted to center equity in its response and did so by rapidly creating new positions on the team: an Equity Officer, an Equity Technical Advisor, and a Language Access Coordinator. It also established an Equity Team within the center. This allowed responses to quickly identify and respond to population needs, especially those in communities of color experiencing disproportionate impacts of disease spread and burden.

This article discusses the challenges of contact tracing among people experiencing homelessness. It suggests combining the traditional person-based approaches to contact tracing with location-based contact tracing approaches when conducting investigations among unhoused individuals. Location-based approaches collect data on the places people have visited in the past 48 hours, rather than the individuals with whom they interacted. Facility-wide testing and resources can be provided in locations where someone accessed support services.

This article discusses the process used by the New York City Health Department to prioritize populations for access to the first round of COVID-19 vaccines. The city’s process was guided by input gathered during five public meetings. During these meetings, participants emphasized the need to prioritize health equity, examining the broad swatch of personal and societal factors that make people more or less susceptible to severe COVID-19 disease.

With the end of the national public health emergency approaching on May 11, 2023, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has committed to continuing to provide free vaccinations, tests, and treatments as long as supplies last. They will be prioritizing uninsured or underinsured people with these resources and services in order to promote equity and health access regardless of insurance status.

This case study of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System highlights effective practices for increasing vaccine uptake among vulnerable populations of veterans. This included targeting outreach to people based on race/ethnicity and the presence of risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease. The VA Puget Sound Health Care System used multiple modalities of communications and collaborated with community leaders in order to increase vaccine rates among people in underserved areas.

Johns Hopkins Health System and Baltimore community organizations collaborated to establish a bilingual COVID-19 hotline and implement free COVID-19 testing. When a vaccine became available, partnerships made within these efforts were leveraged and the coalition partnered with the state. This community-based approach was effective at expanding access to the COVID-19 vaccine among low-income Latino immigrants.

The Public Health-Seattle and King County evaluated its case investigation and contract tracing program for effectiveness and found that contract tracing helped nearly three in four people surveyed stay in isolation. This demonstrates the value of contact tracing and case investigation as a public health tool for COVID-19 mitigation.