The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical gaps in our emergency response infrastructure while laying bare the stark health inequities that place low-income and communities of color at risk. While the nation looks to the CDC and the federal government for expertise and guidance, it is local public health departments, regional agencies, healthcare institutions, foundations, community groups, and volunteers who are taking rapid, on-the-ground action to manage the COVID-19 response. The Public Health Alliance has been developing rapid response resources and practical tools to support local public health departments and other aid groups on the frontlines.

Early in the pandemic, the Alliance documented the immediate and developing needs of our member health departments and partners in the healthcare sector. These efforts were refined into a brief, published in March 2020, and outlined the emergent needs of local health departments as the pandemic escalated. These needs continue to evolve, and we work to identify and elevate critical changes as they occur to better support an equitable response.

The Alliance is focused on co-creating tools and resources that support public health infrastructure, address equity, and advance critical data. A central component of this focus work resulted in an update to the Healthy Places Index®, our robust mapping tool, with COVID-19 indicators.