Improving Health Outcomes for an Aging Population - Project 1

OTHER PROJECT INFORMATION - Project Summary/AbstractSupplemental Project: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Subsequent Economic Downturn onPopulation Health and MortalityThis project supplements an ongoing program project on "Improving Health Outcomes for an Aging Population"by analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic downturn on population healthand mortality. As significant as the reported mortality statistics from COVID-19 have become, they do not accountfor undiagnosed cases of COVID-19, the health and mortality costs of deferred or foregone care for otherconditions, or the secondary health effects of economic distress, job loss, and social isolation. Also absent isany understanding of how these wider health effects are influenced by policy responses, notably social distancingrequirements at the local and state levels, and their associated effects on business activity. While COVID-19 isfundamentally a public health crisis, focusing exclusively on its direct health effects, without accounting for theimpact on the health care system and the economy -- and in turn the economy's impact on health, provides anincomplete understanding of the pandemic's overall impact on health and wellbeing. The goal of this supplementis to engage a small network of economic scholars to analyze near real-time data on health and mortality, andto begin to unravel these indirect and secondary health implications of the pandemic. The supplement's aimsencompass three categories of analysis on the secondary impact of the pandemic on health and mortality: (1)other health conditions affected indirectly by the pandemic, and how both the direct and indirect health impactsvary across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic groups; (2) the dramatic economic downturn of the pandemicand the distinct impact of economic conditions on health and mortality; and (3) the social distancing policyresponse of different communities and states, and its relationship to economic conditions, health and mortalityat the local and state levels.