Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
Addressing COVID-19 Health Disparities Among High-Risk and Underserved Populations in Connecticut - Coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disproportionately affected populations placed at greater risk and who are medically underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups, and people living in rural communities who are at higher risk of exposure, infection, hospitalization, and mortality. Connecticut plans to leverage its current response efforts to meet specific equity goals by removing physical, social and linguistic access barriers, and by delivering mitigation assistance and ongoing social supports and resources during the recovery phase to residents of the state’s zip codes flagged by the social vulnerability index (SVI). PROJECT OUTCOMES: During the proposed funding period and thereafter, CT will expand upon its cross-sector efforts to address COVID-19-related health disparities and advance health equity with the following project outcomes: 1) Reduced COVID-19-related health disparities, 2) Improved and increased testing and contact tracing among populations at higher risk and that are underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural communities, and 3) improved state health department capacity and services to prevent and control COVID-19 infection or transmission among populations at higher risk and that are underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural communities. PROJECT STRATEGIES/ACTIVITIES: The CT DPH will work closely with its partners to strengthen the state’s emergency response against the community spread of COVID-19 and address the underlying causes of the racial and ethnic disparities observed throughout the pandemic period. Connecticut has a robust and successful strategy to provide testing, contact tracing, and vaccination coverage for all residents. Equity focused initiatives will target high-risk underserved racial, ethnic, and rural populations, be implemented in coordination with existing federal awards, and will be structured within all four strategic areas: to: a) enhance mitigation efforts and maintain emergency response capacity at the local level with direct investments in local health and rural initiatives focused on special populations and on-demand transportation; b) invest in optimizing data collection, informatics, and analytics for decision making and public consumption to address: 1. maternal and infant health outcomes, and 2. statewide and community-level health equity metrics; c) improve the public health sector’s infrastructure and readiness, by supporting: 1. the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) Action Team infrastructure and 2. the CT Community Health Worker Association of Connecticut, and d) support the state interagency engagement and existing community collaboratives working on modifying social determinants of health: community CHW initiatives, Health Enhancement Communities, regional Community Resource Centers statewide, rural vaccine messaging, and WIC outreach. PROJECT EVALUATION will include performance measurement data at the local level to monitor and evaluate program performance and inform statewide equity metrics in order to inform future prevention and response activities and to enhance the state’s understanding of evidence-based, scalable emergency response planning. COORDINATION: CT DPH will collaborate with the following stakeholders to accomplish the stated outcomes: CT Department of Social Services, Department of Aging and Disability Services, and Office of Health Strategy, the Community Health Worker Association of CT, the CT-Office of Rural Health, community health collaboratives, local health departments and districts, and local community-based organizations and partners.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).