Health Equity Solutions

After the shock of swiftly relocating all work and business functions from our offices to our homes, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic hit us! We knew, without the data, that this was going to have serious impact on people of color in Connecticut and something had to be done. As a team, we shook off the  shock, quickly adjusted to working from home, and immediately started to process the health equity implications of COVID-19, social distancing, and the social determinants of health. From our discussions and collective work, we went into action in the following ways:

• We wrote to the Governor and key members of his Administration highlighting key issues that needed attending related to health care and other basic needs. Letter to Governor Lamont - March 18, 2020
• We submitted a request to the Department of Public Health (DPH) regarding the collection and reporting of racial and demographic data. They were responsive with regard to collection but not to reporting the data.
  
• We followed this with a letter to the Governor and the Commissioner of DPH requesting the collection and reporting of race and ethnicity data from COVID-19 tests, cases, and deaths. Letter to Governor Lamont - April 2, 2020
• We issued a call for responses from our partners and community allies to understand the direct impact COVID-19 is having their community and help identify any unmet needs. The survey is still live and available here.
  

We were happy to see the next report of COVID-19 data related to cases and deaths included race and ethnic data. However, we remain concerned with the vast amount of cases and deaths that lack racial and ethnic data.

The HES team remains vigilant in our efforts to elevate health equity in the emergency response to COVID-19. Stay tuned as we will work to keep this page updated with information related to COVID-19 and health equity.