The COVID-19 pandemic, the most devastating public health emergency in more than a century, exposed the significant challenges to providing an equitable public health response. COVID-19 disproportionately affected groups at higher risk of adverse outcomes or populations that have been marginalized such as communities of color, and those experiencing homelessness or living in correctional facilities.

In 2020, NGA, in collaboration with CDC and the ABA, launched a four-part webinar series to help state and territorial officials better understand the significant challenges to providing an equitable public health response to these specific groups, and to identify policy solutions.

This update will focus on how states and territories can better serve these groups through the end of the COVID-19 response and future public health emergencies. Specifically, this webinar leverages lessons learned from states and territories' efforts to meet the needs of disproportionally affected groups in 2020, to identify persistent barriers, and to identify promising practices for states seeking to address longstanding public health equity issues.

Speakers:
• Jeffrey E. Hall Ph.D., MA, MSPH, CPH
COVID-19 Response Chief Health Equity Officer
Deputy Director, Office of Minority Health and Health Equity
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

• Dr. Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

• Dr. Jinlene Chan, MD, MPH, FAAP
Deputy Secretary
Maryland Department of Health

• Dawn Hunter, JD, MPH
Director
Network for Public Health Law
American Bar Association

Moderator:
Michelle Woods, Program Director, Homeland Security, National Governors Association