FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: APHA Media Relations
Recommendations call for concerted, cross-state action
Today, the American Public Health Association joined the COVID Collaborative and a bipartisan group of governors in issuing a historic Call to Action to Defeat COVID-19 and Promote National Recovery and Renewal.
This is the first time since the crisis began that governors have come together on a bipartisan basis to support a common, comprehensive approach to defeating COVID-19 within and across states. In so doing, these governors recognized that combating COVID-19 is a calling for the nation as a whole, and encouraged their fellow governors to join them.
The Call to Action addresses the five key pillars of an effective response to the pandemic: testing, contract tracing, public health and social measures, vaccines and treatments, and common measures of success. Across these pillars, it emphasizes the need for state and local leaders to engage with vulnerable communities to ensure that their efforts to defeat the virus are both equitable and effective.
The Call to Action was developed by the COVID Collaborative, a national assembly that has brought together leading experts and institutions across health, education, and the economy to develop consensus best practices to support state and local leaders in their efforts to end the pandemic.
“Defeating COVID-19 requires that all hands, all sectors and all communities work collaboratively to be successful. Public health workers have been on the front lines of this pandemic from day one and they are laboring tirelessly and often at high personal risk to address a rising case load that is even more pronounced among communities of color and vulnerable populations,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “The American Public Health Association is pleased to bring our almost 150 years of experience to the COVID Collaborative. Working together we can effectively defeat COVID-19, achieve health equity and restore our economy.”
The COVID Collaborative will support governors in implementing the Call to Action and other initiatives to defeat COVID-19. As part of that effort, the COVID Collaborative, the National Governors Association and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy released yesterday a review of state vaccine distribution plans highlighting challenges and creative strategies that will assist states in refining their efforts.
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