Though millions of dedicated New Jerseyans performed heroically in response to COVID-19, the pandemic exposed—and worsened—health inequity along racial, ethnic, income, and other fault lines. This public health crisis, unprecedented in our lifetime, also underscores the need to strengthen the state’s public health capacity.
One contributor to the disparities in COVID’s impact is a state public health system strained for decades by lack of funding and insufficient coordination across health and related sectors. Experts agree New Jersey’s system lacks the capacity to simultaneously achieve its core missions, while equitably responding to and managing public health emergencies such as the COVID pandemic.
The above is an excerpt of a piece originally published in the Star-Ledger.
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