Wastewater-Informed Digital Advertising as a COVID-19 Geotargeted Neighborhood Intervention: Jefferson County, Kentucky, 2021–2022

BACKGROUND: Analyzing and visualizing disparities in environmental risks can help in assessing place-based vulnerabilities and provide civic leaders and community members with essential data about promoting health equity and inform public health strategies. However, there is a lack of effective and integrative tools for evaluating census tract vulnerabilities. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the adaption of a previously developed environmental vulnerability index to evaluate cumulative impacts of diverse stressors in Louisville Metro-Jefferson County, KY, with the goal of supporting multi-faceted targeted public health interventions at the census tract-level. METHODS: We assessed countywide variability in vulnerability using Toxicological Prioritization Index interface across five domains with 32 indicators and modeled the effects of theoretical public health interventions. RESULTS: Our findings suggest similarly vulnerable areas are not always geographically clustered. Higher vulnerability scores are observed along the western and central areas of the county with lower vulnerability scores in the central urban core and eastern regions. The index enabled the selection of the most at-risk census tracts for modeling targeted public health interventions to reduce cumulative environmental vulnerability. SIGNIFICANCE: Environmental vulnerabilities are not invariant features of urban environments, rather the knowledge of these risks can guide the development and implementation of targeted solutions. IMPACT STATEMENT: Targeted interventions to modify environmental conditions that are supportive of health can be developed and implemented locally with greater precision at the census tract level, yielding impactful outcomes.

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Implementation of Neighborhood-Level Wastewater-Based Epidemiology to Measure and Mitigate Inequities in SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Boston, Massachusetts

Cowger,

Sharp,

Hart

et al. 2024

Am J Public Health

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Starting October 2022, the Boston Public Health Commission implemented a neighborhood-level wastewater-based epidemiology program to inform strategies to reduce COVID-19 inequities. We collected samples twice weekly at 11 neighborhood sites, covering approximately 18% of Boston, Massachusetts’s population. Results from the program’s first year revealed inequities unobservable in regional wastewater data both between the City of Boston and the greater Boston area and between Boston neighborhoods. We report program results and neighborhood-specific recommendations and resources to help residents interpret and use our findings. ( Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print August 8, 2024:e1–e5. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307749 )

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Wastewater-Informed Digital Advertising as a COVID-19 Geotargeted Neighborhood Intervention: Jefferson County, Kentucky, 2021–2022

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Does Wastewater Analysis Play a Role in Tracking Colorectal Cancer Hot Spots to Guide Geotargeted Neighborhood Interventions?

Does Wastewater Analysis Play a Role in Tracking Colorectal Cancer Hot Spots to Guide Geotargeted Neighborhood Interventions?

An Environmental Vulnerability Index framework supporting targeted public health interventions at the census tracts level

Implementation of Neighborhood-Level Wastewater-Based Epidemiology to Measure and Mitigate Inequities in SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Boston, Massachusetts

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