Tracking Awareness Week 2020
Every day for the past few months, across the country, we have been reading about COVID-19 – the virus that causes it, how it spreads, and how it impacts communities around the U.S.
We all have become disease “trackers” – following data trends, studying charts and maps to understand who is at greatest risk, and watching case, hospitalizations, and deaths rise and fall. We’ve learned from health organizations and news publications how infection and death rates vary by age, and how Black, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander communities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. We try to understand the data because it offers us vital information that can help reduce the spread of the disease and protect our health.
This work – examining the distribution of disease and identifying factors that influence it – is what we do every day at Tracking California. We compile and analyze information to better understand diseases in California, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between environmental pollution and health. We track trends year after year, and we examine the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people due to age, race, gender, income level, and more. We then provide this data to diverse stakeholders to inform actions that address these disparities, in order to improve health for all Californians.
This week we join the
CDC’s National Environmental Health Tracking Program and 26 other programs across the country in recognizing “Tracking Awareness Week.” This week’s theme is “Powered by Tracking” to draw attention to the ways that Environmental Health supports healthier communities across the United States.
