Population Health Research Brief Series

Abstract

State and local governments enacted various public health emergency policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in lower infection and death rates than would have occurred without these policies. However, some states limited the emergency public health authority of state executives, state governors, and other state and local officials during the pandemic. This brief summarizes the results of a study that used data from the Center for Public Health Law Research and Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker to explore which states passed laws that limited emergency public health authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of those limits on COVID-19 death rates. The study finds that states with unified Republican control were more likely to limit emergency authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and that limiting emergency public health authority was associated with higher COVID-19 death rates.