The Community Assessment to Inform Rapid Response (CAIRR): A Novel Qualitative Data Collection and Analytic Process to Facilitate Hyperlocal COVID-19 Emergency Response Operations in New York City

Abstract

NARRATIVE ABSTRACT All disasters are local, but implementing a hyperlocal response in the midst of a public health emergency is challenging. The availability of neighborhood-level qualitative data that are both timely and relevant to evolving objectives and operations is a limiting factor. In 2020, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) responded to the COVID-19 emergency using a novel, hyperlocal approach. Key to the implementation of this approach was the creation of the Community Assessment to Inform Rapid Response (CAIRR), a process for rapid collection and analysis of neighborhood-specific, objective-focused, qualitative data to inform tailored response operations. This paper describes the process of developing the CAIRR and its contribution to the NYC DOHMH’s hyperlocal response in order to guide other jurisdictions seeking to employ a hyperlocal approach in future disaster responses.

Operationalizing PH WINS 2021: Pathways to Resilience for Public Health

“…These 2 are not separate: widening gaps in our public health systems multiply the impacts of public health disasters when they hit. [1][2][3]…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted long-standing health inequities. Structural oppression creates community-and neighborhood-level health vulnerabilities before, during, and after public health emergencies [1][2][3] ; however, the makeup of our current public health leadership is limited by generations of exclusion of people from the communities that could most benefit from public health programming. Historic definitions of expertise in public health exclude some of the most critical "qualifications"-those gained by lived experience.…”

“…For example, NYC Trace, the largest contact tracing operation in the country, rapidly hired thousands of New Yorkers at a time when unemployment was high and relatively safe remote jobs were scarce. Selective recruitment from highly impacted communities at that time increased the acceptability of services while both investing in impacted communities and cultivating a pool of trained public health workers 3. Unless these workers are reintegrated into the public health workforce, the field risks losing their newly gained expertise.…”

“…Public health must embrace the opportunity to unravel systems of oppression by identifying staff who live in the hardest-hit communities, uplifting them into leadership roles, and developing intentional partnerships with communities. Such approaches during emergency response can give staff the opportunity to gain leadership experience, develop skills in rapid participatory action research and qualitative methods, and forge the robust partnerships with communities necessary to develop community-relevant solutions and meaningfully improve health equity 3…”

“Be honest and gain trust”: A mixed methods study to understand factors associated with building trust in local government related to COVID-19 and vaccination in three historically disinvested neighborhoods in New York City

“…These channels of communication helped to provide the NYC Health Department with important insight about residents' fears and misconceptions, and simultaneously allowed accurate and timely health messages to be disseminated to residents, which are key elements to fostering trust between community and government. (10,11) This work was complemented by another essential tenet of the emergency response: direct communications from the NYC Health Department in the form of Public Service Announcements, public transit campaigns, regularly televised press conferences, webinars, in-person presentations at churches and other local gathering sites, street canvassing, and other outreach activities.…”