To the Editor,

Amidst the  COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s county health rankings came out on March 30, 2021. For more than 10 years, the  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has sponsored the rankings, which have been publicized annually on the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps website.

As we know, the county health rankings represent a snapshot of a county’s health status and give us comparisons to other counties in the state. The accumulative rankings show health trends over time. The website includes roadmaps for community health improvement, which stress community collaboration in promoting health in the scope of social determinants – or causes – of health.

Social determinants of health suggest that health is not just about health care services and health insurance, but is also greatly affected by social, cultural, environmental, and economic factors such as housing, education, and employment status. After a year of combating the COVID-19 virus, we have learned a lot about how these factors affect our pandemic response.

Overall, the County’s health improvements remain on the right track and continue to move forward. We have made continuous progress, albiet with some setbacks.

Among the 62 counties throughout the state, Oswego’s Health Outcomes (including both length of life and quality of life) remain ranked at around 50, just as it has for the past few years. The County’s Health Factors (including health behaviors, clinical care, socioeconomic factors, and physical environment) moved up from the bottom by three spaces. We were ranked 60 in 2020 and are now ranked 57 this year.

Some detailed improvements in health behaviors include:

• The adult smoking ranking has improved by seven places.
• The excessive drinking ranking has improved by 16 places.
• The sexual disease transmission rate remains ranked in the 20 lowest county rates.

Many of our setbacks are related to physical environment:

• Although the “access to exercise opportunities” held the same ranking as last year, it has dropped nine places compared to 2018.
• Related to this drop, adult obesity also dropped nine places compared to last year.

As a community, we continue to address health behavioral issues despite the pandemic. Many community collaboration projects such as Smoke Free for My Baby & Me, the Healthy Miles Program, and the Substance Use Prevention Coalition never have or only briefly paused during the pandemic. Other programs such as Overdose to Actions and various cancer prevention programs resumed their activities quickly after adopting the “new norm” during the COVID -19 pandemic.

Also of significant note, the County’s health care system – which has consistently ranked high in the past decade – has taken extra efforts during the pandemic to assure patient safety and stress the importance of continuing preventive care.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that, at the minimum, the existing physical environment and infrastructures are not optimal for us to promote community health. Almost a quarter to a third of rural areas in the County are without high-speed internet access. This has made the COVID-19 Hotline a vital tool for communication.

Also, vast territories throughout the County with limited accessibility to public transportation have made it necessary to move testing and vaccination clinics around to meet the needs of different communities or to offer free shuttle services to meet the needs of some individuals.

It is an excellent time to look at community health improvements through the lens of social determinants of health. We have a well-netted community. In past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown  how the community can come together. We joined forces to protect the health care system and to safeguard our residents.

Let’s continue to work together to advance education and equip this generation with marketable skills, to enhance the economy and update infrastructure, to build opportunities to increase physical activity, and promote health equity to realize everyone’s potential and productivity.

As our communities thrive, Oswego County will be a healthier and happier place to live, work, learn, and play for all.

Jiancheng Huang
Director of Public Health
Oswego County Health Department