UTEP CHS Professors Co-Author Article Examining Statewide Stay-at-Home Orders

An interdisciplinary team of professors from the CHS Department of Social Work and the Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences Program co-wrote an article examining statewide stay-at-home orders across the nation and whether these orders addressed potential challenges with adherence to social distancing measures.

Authors Dr. Eva Moya, associate professor of the UTEP Social Work Department; Dr. Silvia Chavez-Baray, lecturer in the Social Work Department, and Dr. Gregory Schober, Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences contributed to the manuscript entitled “Social Distancing, Social Assistancing, and Gubernatorial Executive Orders in the US," which was recently published in JHMPH Direct.

In the article, the professors explored the impact of gubernatorial stay-at-home orders across the nation to identify if any orders explicitly addressed the need to provide inter-household service to ensure that populations at risk are able to comply with social-distancing efforts. The research team examined 42 stay-at-home orders (those states without statewide orders were excluded from the analysis).

The team’s results indicated that many orders did not address challenges in adherence to the guidelines, including for those living with homelessness or in unsafe living conditions. For example, only 40% of orders included language acknowledging difficulties for homeless individuals to be able to comply and provided an exemption for this population. Only 38% of orders contained exemptions for individuals living in unsafe conditions. Regarding the provision of social assistance, just over a third of orders allowed members of one household to leave to provide direct care to those in another household, while nearly three quarters allowed members of one household to deliver supplies and other essential items to members of another household.

The entire article may be accessed here.

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