State and Local Efforts to Declare Racism a Public Health Crisis – Eastern Region Update

Overview

In summer 2020, as the disparities in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continued to worsen and amid racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd, cities, counties, states, and other agencies and organizations increasingly issued formal resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis. This Issue Brief is the third in a series of updated analyses looking at resolutions issued in each region of the country based on the Network’s regional offices. These analyses will focus primarily on state and local government entities, including city councils, county boards of commissioners (BOC), city and county executives, school boards, and boards of health (BOH).