COVID-19 mitigation activities are actions that people and communities can take to slow the spread of the virus. These mitigation activities include personal prevention practices and actions to safely maintain operations and healthy environments in facilities and workplaces. Some examples of personal prevention practices include handwashing, staying home when sick, practicing social distancing, and wearing a face mask. COVID-19 mitigation activities have also included restrictions on travel and gatherings, academic and business closures, and stay-home orders. The goal of these mitigation activities is to minimize COVID-19 cases and deaths, but they can also have economic, social, and secondary health consequences.
Many of the inequities in social determinants of health drive poor health outcomes, such as neighborhood and physical environment, health and healthcare, occupation, economic stability, and education. These inequities may become worse during the COVID-19 response, disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority groups. Unintended consequences of these inequities may include lost wages, unemployment, and loss of health insurance as a result of business closures; stress and social isolation because of restrictions on social gatherings; and the stigma of having or being suspected of having the virus if wearing a mask. These unintended consequences may cause exceptional difficulties in communities with limited resources and communities in which mitigation strategies are more strictly enforced.
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Sourced from the CDC