During the COVID-19 pandemic, local and state governments are key actors in protecting the United States’ most vulnerable residents. They run jails and state prisons, which are key to “flattening the curve,” they oversee court systems, they provide homelessness services, they decide whether to enforce evictions and utility shutoffs, and more. Throughout the country, advocates are now calling on local and state authorities to change their practices: to stop evictions and to release elderly people from prison, for instance.
THE APPEAL has created an interactive map that tracks developments of the coronavirus response in local and state governments, with a focus on what is being done — and what’s not done — to protect vulnerable populations. The Appeal: Political Report is devoted to shedding a spotlight on state and local politics.
For more information and to view the interactive map, click here.
