Brown School

A recent study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis provides the first explicit analysis of the timing, determinants and impacts of mitigation interventions for all states and Washington, D.C., during the first five weeks of the pandemic. States initially with high prevalence rates of COVID-19 enacted mitigation interventions, like social distancing, in a delayed fashion, which explained why the case/death counts of COVID-19 in the U.S. remained high for a long period of time.

COVID-19 caught public health systems in the U.S. unprepared to detect, track and contain the virus. The pandemic has exposed a multitude of deficiencies that require a wholesale reinvention of the field of public health, said four leading experts in a recently published essay.

Across 30 major U.S. cities, an average of 63% of public schools are located within 1,000 feet — about two city blocks — of a store selling tobacco and e-cigarette products, according to a comprehensive new study mapping tobacco retailers.

Disturbed by voter suppression, Gena Gunn McClendon helped found the Voter Access and Engagement initiative at the university. In the time of COVID-19, fighting to make sure every voice is heard on election day is more important than ever.

Up to 5,000 St. Louis County residents will be invited to participate in a survey and testing regarding COVID-19 to help gauge the impact the coronavirus has had on the county’s residents. Washington University in St. Louis and the St. Louis County Department of Public Health are leading the project.

As China’s government seeks solutions to social problems related to an evolving society, professional social work is increasingly entering new areas, including migrant and aging services, and is poised to take on a larger role in assisting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, say two experts from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

There have been more than 3.5 million requests for assistance to 2-1-1 help lines around the United States since the coronavirus pandemic hit this spring. The impact was immediate and dramatic, said a Brown School researcher who tracks calls to 2-1-1 help lines across the U.S.

Louis Damani Jones, an incoming Brown School student, has been appointed to the board of directors of Catholic Charities of St. Louis.

The Brown School has launched a “Foundations of Pandemic Preparedness & Response” program. The five-part, 20-hour program provides a self-paced, online tool kit to help public health and social service professionals respond, mitigate and prevent infectious disease outbreaks, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jason Purnell, associate professor at the Brown School, has been named vice president of community health improvement at BJC HealthCare. He will remain on the Brown School faculty.