Mayor Lightfoot and CDPH are committed to addressing the health inequities highlighted by this data by working in partnership with other government agencies and community partners to rapidly and urgently find solutions. The City’s strategy will work to address systemic health inequities within the COVID-19 crisis by taking immediate steps to minimize gaps in healthcare systems, to create more equity in service delivery, and educate targeted populations while enhancing rapid response programs to help vulnerable populations.

In partnership with West Side United, the City will immediately launch the implementation of a robust, multi-faceted community engagement strategy that will provide residents in impacted communities with health guidance and information that addresses the realities of everyday life among those most impacted by COVID-19, such as multi-generational families, isolation within the home, faith communities, and what to do when returning home from essential work or other activity. The engagement plan will include:

1. Forming a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team, with the first phase to be convened by West Side United, tasked with confronting and mitigating the racialized outcomes present in the COVID-19 crisis;

2. Organizing and implementing COVID-19 Regional Briefings with local stakeholders in targeted communities who are realizing the most adverse health impacts;

3. Adapting specific tactics from the engagement plan that will resonate with youth;

4. Utilizing Street Outreach Workers as messengers on the West and South Sides to provide targeted information and education, and to conduct wellbeing checks on residents, particularly those who are most disconnected.

In addition, the City of Chicago will launch a community awareness campaign in partnership with AARP to provide information and resources to Chicago’s most vulnerable seniors.

“It is a top priority for AARP to ensure that older adults of color get the information they need to stay healthy and safe during this pandemic,” said Bob Gallo, AARP Illinois State Director.” AARP Illinois is working hard to address the racial gaps and limited access to information for older adults of color. AARP provides telephone town halls, Facebook live events and our website which includes important information translated into several languages. On behalf of our 250,000 members in Chicago and 1.7 million members across the state, we are more motivated than ever to partner with city leaders to get trusted, accurate information to all communities of older adults and their caregivers during this crucial time.”

The City will also accelerate its work to leverage existing healthcare networks and develop new channels of communication to reach vulnerable populations and share this critical information, identify and address barriers to protecting against COVID-19, and educate patients about protection and resources. This will include:

*Holding daily calls with healthcare networks to emphasize data and solicit ideas to support health and slow disease transmission in vulnerable communities during COVID-19;

*Putting out a call for students in the healthcare field to support health investigations particularly in vulnerable communities to help stop/slow disease transmission;

*Working with the Chicago Health Alert Network to share data, promote communication between doctors and high-risk patients and solicit feedback for reducing barriers in the community;

*Hosting a Healthcare Partner Webinar to provide an overview of this new data and solicit ideas to support health and slow disease transmission amongst vulnerable residents and communities;

*Convening and mobilizing insurance stakeholders to share COVID-19 transmission prevention tactics broadly, but especially with high-risk policyholders.

Finally, CDPH continues to see higher case counts and deaths in communities where compliance with the statewide Stay at Home order remains an issue. To prevent congregate settings and to promote social distancing where it is more challenging to comply, the City is working with partners to institute the following policies that will directly impact the most at-risk communities:

*Closely monitoring CTA bus ridership along all routes and deploying large buses or extra buses to allow for social distancing during transit;
*Improving coordination and socialization of health guidance for essential businesses, such as grocery stores and corner stores, to promote social distancing and discourage congregating; and
*Prioritizing Business Affairs and Consumer Protection investigation and response of non-essential businesses operating in communities with high transmission rates.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City launched the Stay Home, Save Lives campaign to inform residents about how they can stay healthy and do their part to bend the curve of the virus. For more information and updates on COVID-19, text COVID19 to 78015, email coronavirus@chicago.gov or visit Chicago.gov/coronavirus.