New report offers blueprint for advancing health equity in nation's COVID-19 response

Actions aimed at addressing racial inequities must be a central part of the nation's response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report concludes. The report outlines a set of equity-focused programmatic and policy changes that can ensure that in both the response and the recovery efforts the nation addresses the disparities in health outcomes related to race and class that the pandemic has laid bare.

The report focuses on a set of administrative and legislative steps that the new Biden Administration could take to strengthen the immediate response to the pandemic and address the long-term health, social, and economic problems that COVID-19 has exacerbated.

"Every element of this plan helps lay the foundation for how we address racial and health disparities and advance equity over the long run," Jeffrey Levi, professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University and lead author of the report, said. "Our response to the current pandemic must also build the long-term capacity of health care, public health, and social services to work in alignment to address root causes of inequity."

Levi noted that the relief plan announced by President-elect Biden on Thursday contains some of the recommendations in the report. "There remain critical legislative and administrative steps to be taken to assure that equity is central to the recovery from COVID-19 as well," Levi said.