COVID-19 Prevalence and Mortality Rates in Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the paramount public health crisis facing the United States today. In this issue brief, researchers from IMPAQ and the Weitzman Institute explore COVID-19 prevalence and mortality rates in counties designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration as Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (pcHPSAs). Since pcHPSA designations can potentially serve as a proxy for social risk factors that worsen health outcomes, it is critical to study the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on pcHPSA populations.