September 9, 2020

Allocation of COVID-19 Relief Funding to Disproportionately Black Counties

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice

Keywords (Tags): public health

• US counties with the highest fraction of Black residents received $126 more COVID-19 relief funding per resident ($506 vs. $380, p<0.001) than other counties. However, for a given level of relief funding, disproportionately Black counties had significantly higher COVID-19 burden and worse hospital finances.
  • The authors conclude that the method used to allocate relief funding, which includes prior hospital revenue, should align funding more closely with measures of need.

  Kakani et al. (Sept 8, 2020). Allocation of COVID-19 Relief Funding to Disproportionately Black Counties. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.14978