The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how deep-rooted inequities in the United States continue to perpetuate and harm low-income, minority, and disenfranchised communities. Black, Hispanic, and Latinx, and American Indian/Alaskan Native populations are at an increased risk of getting COVID-19, experiencing severe illness, and have higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths, when compared to White populations. 

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The drivers of these inequities need to be quantified so that it is better understood which resources and interventions are the most appropriate and relevant for those communities. In tandem, policy interventions are being implemented domestically and globally with little empirical analysis that is connecting these interventions with specific trends in case incidence and the 'flattening' of the epidemic curve. 

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To address these issues, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health (JHSPH) are embarking on three projects, with an overarching mission of describing this pandemic through an inequities and policy lens. The RICH-LIFE and the National Pandemic Pulse projects both will help characterize and quantify how COVID-19 is affecting populations in the United States. The HIT-COVID project tracks policy interventions domestically (in the United States) and globally to better understand what interventions are being implemented and their effectiveness. 

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Having a stronger and better informed understanding of how COVID-19 is impacting marginalized communities helps support the development and implementation of more relevant and appropriate interventions. To learn more about these three projects, please click here. 

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It is also important to note that the roots of these inequities have built the foundation of the United States. As an institution of higher education and research, it is our duty to ensure that those interested in our work understand not only how COVID-19 specifically is exacerbating inequities, but also the history of these inequities and their present effects on the fields of public health and healthcare. Please click here to learn more. 

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This work is supported by Johnson & Johnson. JHSPH has also partnered with Cuebiq, a location-intelligence platform, to better understand COVID-19 related mobility. Learn more about this partnership by clicking here.