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This proposed policy statement identifies a rethinking the public health workforce structure as a means to promote health equity. Guidance includes the use of community-based advisory boards, salary assessments to better understand challenges related to compensation, the elevation of lived experience, accreditation evaluation using equity metrics, and leadership training in community-centered and community-responsive public health approaches.

This analysis summarizes responses from the 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey to gain insight into governmental public health workers’ needs and experiences. Public health workers continue to be on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic and recruiting and retaining workers is an important element of an effective emergency response. Pride in public health and teamwork were identified as positive aspects of the job, while burnout and unappreciation were cited as negative aspects.

Challenges related to workforce capacity have existed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. These shortages are especially acute and problematic for settings with high disease burdens such as nursing facilities. Strategies for expanding public health capacity within nursing homes and more broadly include increased training and retention of experienced staff.

Mask mandates in states beginning in 2020 had a significant impact on COVID-19-related hospitalizations. This study recommends revisiting mask mandates as new variants of COVID-19 spread and pressures return to the healthcare system.

This analysis evaluates the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 transmission across states. Non-pharmaceutical interventions evaluated include the reopening of restaurants and bars, wearing facial masks in public, and lockdowns.

This analysis provides a framework for navigating the ethnical concerns around the lifting of public health and social measures for people who are vaccinated against COVID-19. It warns against the unintended consequences of vaccination certificates in creating more division within communities.

This report outlines a framework for supporting people with long COVID through increased public awareness, accommodations within the school and workplace, research, and advocacy. It emphasizes a person-centered approach to designing this framework and understanding the lived experiences of people with long COVID. As such, recommendations focus on areas identified to be of greatest importance to the community, rather than clinical researchers.

This brief lists interventions to support state public health efforts to address rural disparities and racial discrimination. It emphasizes the importance of localized data on social determinants of health and improving systemic and structural underpinnings of racial disparities. Suggested interventions address data collection and workforce issues, including representativeness and paid family leave.

The El Bari Clinic launched a telemedicine initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce in-person visits and reduce transportation as a barrier to accessing health care. This cases study notes that the clinic offers patient-centered and culturally competent care to under and uninsured community members, which largely includes working-class ethnic minorities.

This article describes structural barriers contributing to inequitable health outcomes for people living with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides policy recommendations (based on Canadian examples) to address structural barriers that exacerbated the effects of the pandemic on people living with dementia.