Empowering Communities Through Data: A Response to COVID-19 in Allegheny County

Introduction

Uniting a diverse, interdisciplinary group of public health experts, data workers, physicians, community leaders, and elected officials, the Black-led Black Equity Coalition (BEC) of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania came together in April 2020 to advocate for a more inclusive, equitable, and evidence-informed response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in its communities.

Members of the Black communities of Allegheny County raised concern about health disparities from the onset of the pandemic, as national trends showed significantly higher rates of infections and hospitalizations among Black residents compared to white residents.¹ However, in the first months of the pandemic, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Allegheny County Health Department did not release disaggregated COVID-19 testing and case data with race, ethnicity, and information. This hindered the ability of policymakers and community members to assess if the county was facing the same racial vaccine utilization, morbidity, and mortality health disparities observed in nationwide data.²

A group of concerned individuals in Allegheny County recognized the need for collaborative action. The subsequent formation of the Black Equity Coalition proved to be a vital step in addressing these disparities and advocating for more equitable health outcomes, driven by both data and collective action. This use case tells the story of how community members organized to leverage data in support of policies and interventions that would reduce inequities in health outcomes related to the pandemic.³ They collected and advocated for data to fill gaps in public records, analyzed it to better understand pandemic trends, shared data and evidence broadly to inform members of the Black community, elected officials, and healthcare leaders, and were a persistent voice for enhancing data quality and improving access. 

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