Category Archives: COVID-19

In New York City, pandemic policing reproduced familiar patterns of racial disparities

In the past month, New York City has rolled back most of the public health mandates first put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, such as social distancing and mask wearing mandates. Now, new research … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Ethnicity, Health Disparities, Mass Incarceration, Neighborhood Environments, Pandemic, Race, Racism, Social Environments, Spatial Analysis, Urban Health | Leave a comment

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Threat Multiplier for Childhood Health Disparities: Evidence from St. Louis, MO

In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated socioeconomic and racial health disparities. For example, U.S.-based studies have found that the mortality rates for Black, Hispanic, Latino, and Indigenous communities from COVID-19 are double that of their … Continue reading

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The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on population mental health: An analysis of GPS and Google search volume data

Catherine Gimbrone and colleagues recently published a paper in the journal PLoS One exploring the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on population mental health. Using novel data sources that allow for near-real-time analysis of population behavior and thought, they found that … Continue reading

Posted in Anxiety, COVID-19, Depression, Economic, Stress | Leave a comment

COVID-19 testing, case, and death rates and spatial socio-demographics in New York City

Social and Spatial Epidemiology Unit members, Byoungjun Kim, Andrew Rundle, Christopher Morrison, Charles Branas, and Dustin Duncan recently published research regarding neighborhood-level social and built environments as potential determinants of COVID-19 testing, case, and death rates in New York City. There is emerging … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Mapping, Neighborhood Environments, Social Environments, Socioeconomic Status, Spatial Analysis, Urban Design, Urban Health | Leave a comment

Gun Violence in a Time of COVID

COVID-19 and efforts to contain its spread have affected almost all aspects of our daily lives over the last year. Risks for crime and violence are no different. Early during the pandemic reports emerged of increased incidence of gun violence … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Gun Violence, Injury | Leave a comment

Innovative Responses to Pandemic Related Disruptions in School Meal Programs

School meals are a vital source of federal food assistance; the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs serve approximately 30 million lunches and 15 million breakfasts daily at low or no cost to students. At the start of the … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood Adversity, COVID-19, Food Insecurity | Leave a comment

@DearPandemic: a COVID-19-related scientific communication effort for the public

Epidemiologists and other scientists have become an important source of information for the public amid so much misinformation around COVID-19. “Dear Pandemic” is a public service effort by Dr. Sandra Albrecht, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, in conjunction with an all-female … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Pandemic, Teaching Tools | Leave a comment

Severe COVID-19 Projections: Data Visualization Tool

An online data visualization tool has just been released that allows users to explore the COVID-19 projections being released weekly by Jeff Shaman’s lab at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.  These data have been powering Columbia’s interactive … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Health Disparities, Neighborhood Environments | Leave a comment

Updated: County Level Estimates of Highly Stressed Health Care Systems

The Built Environmental and Health Research Group’s online mapping tool has been updated with new data showing counties that are at high risk of experiencing patient volumes that exceed their hospital capacity over the next 6 weeks.  The maps show at risk … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Health Care, Health Disparities, Mapping, Spatial Analysis | Leave a comment

COVID-19 and Food Insecurity

Mailman School researchers are calling attention to the way in which COVID-19 is magnifying food insecurity in the U.S. and the link between food insecurity and long term health effects among children. The rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout the United … Continue reading

Posted in COVID-19, Food Insecurity, Pandemic | Leave a comment