How States Collect Data, Report, and Act on COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities
Updated July 28, 2020
The racial inequities exposed by COVID-19’s case* and death rate data gives states opportunities to target their responses and address inequities in communities most impacted. This chart details which states are reporting case, mortality, and testing data by race and ethnicity on a state, zip code, or community level, and what initiatives they are taking to address race and health inequities. Read this NASHP blog, States Launch Initiatives to Address Racial Inequities Highlighted by COVID-19, to learn what their approaches have in common.
For more information, contact Elinor Higgins at EHiggins@nashp.org.
| State | Actions |
| Alabama | Not found |
| Alaska | Not found |
| Arkansas | Not found |
| Arizona | Not found |
| California | Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery has recommended that racial justice principles and a focus on equity become part of the economic reopening plan for the state. |
| Colorado | The Office of Health Equity created the COVID-19 Health Equity Response Team, which promotes transparency by publishing summaries of weekly team meetings. It also conducted a survey to inform the team’s actions.
The Equity Response Team released their recommendations on June 10, 2020. |
| Connecticut | Not found |
| Delaware | Not found |
| District of Columbia | Washington, DC’s Equity, Disparity Reduction and Vulnerable Populations Committee is part of Reopen DC’s advisory group. The committee assembled a set of recommendations describing how to ensure equity during reopening. |
| Florida | Not found |
| Georgia | Not found |
| Hawaii | Not found |
| Idaho | Not found |
| Illinois | The Illinois Department of Public Health created a COVID-19 equity team involving other departments that will work to address health disparities. The equity team has launched a COVID-19 text messaging system (which includes an option for Spanish-speakers). Illinois residents can opt-in to receive text messages and obtain the most accurate information about coronavirus and how to protect themselves. |
| Indiana | The legislative Racial Disparity Task Force on COVID-19 was created after the Legislative Black Caucus urged the Governor to do so. The caucus’s letter to the governor included several other concrete suggestions for action. |
| Iowa | Not found |
| Kansas | Not found |
| Kentucky | Not found |
| Louisiana | Gov. John Bel Edwards announced he is making $500,000 from the Governor’s COVID-19 Response Fund available to the Louisiana COVID-19 Health Equity Taskforce to examine the causes and possible solutions to the high rate of deaths from the coronavirus within Louisiana’s African American community and other impacted populations. |
| Maine | Not found |
| Maryland | Not found |
| Massachusetts | Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill into law that requires the collection of vital public health data and establishes a COVID-19 Equity Task force.
The Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Health Equity Advisory Group released its recommendations that include: · Continuing to disaggregate COVID-19 data across populations and sectors, such as transit usage. · Increasing equitable distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) for essential workers and residents in professions most at risk. · Implement policies that increase housing stability for populations disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. · Prioritizing investment in multilingual outreach to communities to increase access to testing, home and workplace protections, and access to state assistance programs. · Planning and implementing a strategy for the active engagement and representation of existing community-based organizations in the most impacted communities as part of decision-making processes related to COVID-19 response and recovery. |
| Michigan | Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order that created the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities. The task force will suggest ways to:
· Increase transparency in reporting data regarding the racial and ethnic impact of COVID-19. · Remove barriers to accessing physical and mental health care. · Reduce the impact of medical bias in testing and treatment. · Mitigate environmental and infrastructure factors contributing to increased exposure during pandemics resulting in mortality. · Develop and improve systems for supporting long-term economic recovery and physical and mental health care following a pandemic. |
| Minnesota | Gov. Tim Walz established a community resilience and recovery work group to work with communities experiencing the worst disparities in COVID-19 outcomes. Items of business include policymaking, executive actions and executive orders, communication and outreach, and other processes for amplifying the voices in impacted communities. |
| Mississippi | Not found |
| Missouri | Not found |
| Montana | Not found |
| Nebraska | Not found |
| Nevada | Not found |
| New Hampshire | Gov. Chris Sununu established the COVID-19 Equity Response Team. The group is charged with:
· The collection and ongoing release of demographic data; · Conducting a thorough analysis of all available data using a cross-cultural research method to examine the social, cultural, and systemic factors contributing to differences and disparities in COVID-19 related outcomes; · Identifying and recommending specific resources that could be allocated to address these disparities; and · Within 30 days (as of May 28), identifying and recommending achievable steps for the state and other stakeholders to consider undertaking to remedy the disparate impact of COVID-19, which is likely to be a public health concern for months, if not years to come. |
| New Jersey | Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that requires hospitals to report COVID-19 demographic data to the Department of Health.
The state legislature has introduced a bill to establish the Racial Equity Rapid Response team. |
| New Mexico | Not found |
| New York | Not found |
| North Carolina | Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. The order:
· Establishes the Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health Equity Task Force to focus on economic stability, health disparities, and environmental justice in North Carolina; · Tasks the North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office to ensure the equitable distribution of pandemic relief funds; · Directs the Historically Underutilized Business Office to provide small historically underutilized businesses with access to opportunities, tools, and resources that promote equitable economic recovery and procurement of state contracts; · Directs the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to ensure all communities have access to COVID-19 testing and related health care; · Tasks the Office of Public Engagement to increase awareness about COVID-19, COVID-19 relief services and resources, and provide education on eliminating disparities; · Directs the Division of Emergency Management to continue coordinating efforts to protect the food supply chain and support feeding operations at food banks and school systems; · Directs the North Carolina National Guard to provide planning and logistical support and personnel where feasible to support mass testing of food processing plant workers in impacted communities and migrant farm workers; and · Tasks the Department of Environmental Quality to create a common discourse on environmental justice and coordinate with state executive agencies on the integration of environmental justice considerations into current and future policies, programs, and procedures. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services also awarded grants to five local North Carolina organizations to help address the disparate impact that COVID-19 is having among the state’s Latinx communities. |
| North Dakota | Not found |
| Ohio | Gov. Mike DeWine created a Minority Health Strike Force and has announced its first set of recommendations that include:
· Establishing culturally appropriate and accessible COVID-19 exposure notification services for communities of color; · Expanding testing capacity and access for minorities and high-risk populations; · Using data to prioritize resources in the communities that have the highest need; and · Developing and launching a statewide, culturally sensitive outreach campaign that educates African Americans and communities of color about COVID-19, health disparities, and social determinants of health. Along with the Strike Force, a new position will be created within the Ohio Department of Health dedicated to social determinants of health and opportunity. Whoever fills the position will build on existing efforts to respond to health inequity by working directly with local communities on their specific long-term health needs and Ohio’s response to COVID-19. This person in this position will be responsible for collecting data to inform best practices and for helping to ensure the implementation of the Minority Strike Force’s short-term and long-term recommendations. |
| Oklahoma | Not found |
| Oregon | Gov. Kate Brown released the State of Oregon Equity Framework in COVID-19 Response and Recovery. The core elements of the framework include a commitment to:
· Use inclusive communications, including translated materials that are accessible, timely, trauma-informed, shared by trusted messengers, and involve the intended community. · Form community-informed policy and partnerships. Work with community leaders who are an essential part of the decision-making process. · Ensure safety for our communities. Protect civil rights for all Oregonians and take active measures against discrimination, racism, xenophobia, stigmatization, violence, and hate crimes. · Collect, analyze, and report data in culturally and linguistically responsive communications. Allot resources for the most-impacted communities across the state and collect qualitative data to provide context to quantitative data. · Ensure a safe, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all. Recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse staff, create leadership pipeline opportunities, and ensure every level of state government’s workforce reflects the population of Oregon. · Make investments in community resilience. Target investments to historically and currently marginalized populations and organizations that serve them, to improve economic welfare. · Ensure contract equity. Provide state economic opportunities for all Oregon businesses, in particular those who are owned by people who are minorities, women, disabled, and/or veterans. · Ask – and answer – the tough questions. The Equity Framework outlines more than a dozen guiding questions to ask to ensure equity is applied. |
| Pennsylvania | The governor and lieutenant governor established a COVID-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity to help communicate and address issues about how the pandemic is affecting the state’s minority and vulnerable population.
Office of Health Equity has a Covid-19 Health Equity Response Team with 6 core strategies: · Clinical Care Considerations for Vulnerable Populations at Risk for COVID-19 · Predictive Modeling · Strategic Communications · Coordination of Strategic Partnerships · Mass Fatality Management · Economic Stability and Revitalization |
| Rhode Island | The Executive Office of Health and Human Services Equity Council was created to advance and embed race equity into all areas within the state’s government, with a current focus on incorporating equity measures into the reopening plan. |
| South Carolina | Not found |
| South Dakota | Not found |
| Tennessee | The Tennessee Department of Health and the Office of Minority Health created the COVID-19 Health Disparity Task Force and meeting minutes have been posted. |
| Texas | Not found |
| Utah | Not found |
| Vermont | Gov. Phil Scott signed an executive order to form the Racial Equity Task Force as a component of a broader state effort to promote racial, ethnic, and cultural equity, including in its response to COVID-19. The Task Force will undertake three major projects including:
· Evaluate structures of support for racially diverse populations, including a focus on the racial disparities in health outcomes highlighted by COVID-19; · Review current state and federal law on hate speech and freedom of speech, and consider changes to state law to clarify the path for prosecuting harassment, hate speech, and other bias-motivated crimes; and · Study and present options to encourage Vermonters from diverse, marginalized, or underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to run and serve in public office at all levels. |
| Virginia | · The Office of Health Equity created a Health Equity Leadership Task Force to address COVID-19.
· Gov. Ralph Northam announced a pilot program in Richmond to increase equitable access to personal protective equipment (PPE) in underserved communities that may be more adversely impacted by the virus. The task force is leveraging data to prioritize areas experiencing disproportionate impacts and working with the City of Richmond to establish policies and programs that include an equity lens. |
| Washington | New proposed recommendations from the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities for discussion-only include:
Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and response. · The impacts of COVID-19 highlight systemic barriers and institutional oppression. There is disproportionate burden on communities of color, immigrant communities, low-income communities, the LGBTQ community, the disability community, and vulnerable labor forces. · ‘Hitting pause’ on services is not neutral — it is harmful. Agencies must be prepared to continue serving all populations (e.g., students with disabilities, isolated communities). · For some communities, state support structures did not apply to their lives in the first place. They are dependent on these structures now more than ever. · Do not revert to inequitable systems and behaviors; do not replicate and reinforce inequities. · What will be different this time? We have the responsibility to ensure communities are not left behind, and a unique opportunity to rebuild systems to be more just and equitable. · The door is open even wider than before for an Office of Equity — it is needed now more than ever. If approved, these lessons would supplant the current Office of Equity Task Force Preliminary Report (2019) |
| West Virginia | A task force focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on African American residents was established by the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) and Office of Minority Affairs. Gov. Jim Justice and the DHHR also announced a plan to increase COVID-19 testing opportunities for minority populations and other vulnerable populations in counties that have both a large minority population and evidence of COVID-19 transmission. |
| Wisconsin | Not found |
| Wyoming | Not found |
* Cases in this table refer to laboratory-confirmed positive COVID-19 cases.
Support for this work was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.
For more information, read the NASHP blogs, States Use Race and Ethnicity Data to Identify Disparities and Inform their COVID-19 Responses. Learn more about what the data conveys about health inequities from The COVID Tracking Project and Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.
