Using data to inform comprehensive COVID response strategy in Waco, TX
Waco, TXChallenge
As COVID cases climbed and community resources became more restricted, Prosper Waco, a collective impact organization in Waco, TX, needed valid, reliable data to understand the potentially disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in their community.
Impact
As regular users of Dashboard data, the Prosper Waco team used the City Health Dashboard’s COVID Local Risk Index to pinpoint the level of COVID risk by neighborhood. The COVID Local Risk Index characterizes risk of COVID infection and more severe COVID illness based on data that incorporates factors like race, household crowding and underlying health conditions like obesity and diabetes. Prosper Waco compared COVID case counts from the city to the Dashboard’s neighborhood-level COVID Local Risk Index scores. Surprisingly, they identified two neighborhoods that had the highest level of risk according to the Index but low numbers of confirmed cases. Prosper Waco used this information to:
Communicate with city leaders regarding the potentially disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on certain neighborhoods.
Consider whether neighborhood residents were able to access COVID-19 tests
Dig deeper into possible protective factors that might have influenced case rates in these neighborhoods.
Prosper Waco continues to reference this data to identify the potentially disparate impact of COVID-19 and to inform response and recovery efforts.
