A Database of U.S. State Policies to Mitigate COVID-19 and Its Economic Consequences
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: June 4, 2022
This journal article describes the creation and use of the COVID-19 U.S. State Policy database, or CUSP, which documented state-level policies to reduce the spread of the virus and its economic impact.
Primary Takeaways
CUSP helped researchers show associations between certain COVID-related policies and a reduction in the virus’s spread. For example, policies like social distancing and business closures helped slow COVID-19's spread. The researchers documented that all 50 states and the District of Columbia had at least one policy regarding physical distancing. The researchers also found policies that advanced equitable vaccine delivery and prioritized the vaccination of vulnerable populations were effective strategies that should have been used by more states.
Social safety net policies helped many people stay financially secure and housed. “For the first time in US history, 26 states and D.C. banned notice and/or filing of evictions, and 30 states and D.C. banned eviction hearings and/or enforcement of evictions,” the authors write. “Additionally, 13 states and D.C. banned the collection of late fees for delayed rent payments.”
All states and D.C. used the federal government’s expanded SNAP policies to ensure people were fed, and they all had at least one policy that expanded unemployment insurance.
Overview and Objectives
The authors created CUSP to document when states put policies into place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and help people overcome its economic effects.
Hypothesis or Approach
The authors created a Google sheet early in the pandemic to track state policies. Later, they shared their database on the CUSP website and on GitHub. The research team reviewed public documents and executive orders as well as media reports to find policies to add to the database and record the dates they were put in place.
“The team that created CUSP included dozens of graduate and law student volunteers working alongside research fellows and faculty members,” the authors write.
How This Influences Change
Researchers and policymakers can use the CUSP website to understand what policies states used to combat COVID-19 and what might work in the future to stop the spread of infectious diseases and their social and economic impacts.
Research: Go Deeper
Background: Since COVID-19 first appeared in the United States (US) in January 2020, US states have pursued a wide range of policies to mitigate the spread of the virus and its economic ramifications. Without unified federal guidance, states have been the front lines of the policy response.
Results: We created the COVID-19 US State Policy (CUSP) database (https://statepolicies.com/) to document the dates and components of economic relief and public health measures issued at the state level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Documented interventions included school and business closures, face mask mandates, directives on vaccine eligibility, eviction moratoria, and expanded unemployment insurance benefits. By providing continually updated information, CUSP was designed to inform rapid-response, policy-relevant research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been widely used to investigate the impact of state policies on population health and health equity. This paper introduces the CUSP database and highlights how it is already informing the COVID-19 pandemic response in the US.
Conclusion: CUSP is the most comprehensive publicly available policy database of health, social, and economic policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. CUSP documents widespread variation in state policy decisions and implementation dates across the US and serves as a freely available and valuable resource to policymakers and researchers.
BMC Public Health, June 4, 2022. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13487-0
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
- Skinner A
- Flannery K
- Nocka K
- Bor J
- Dean LT
- Jay J
- Ketchen Lipson S
- Cole MG
- Benfer EA
- Scheckman R
- Raderman W
- Jones DK
- Raifman J
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