Well, it’s official. A presidential administration that left U.S. citizens to sink or swim when facing the worst pandemic in a century has finally admitted what we already knew. It has given up. Saying the quiet part out loud, White House Chief-of-Staff Meadows acknowledged the Coronavirus task force no longer even pretends to address the spread of the virus. But this is no surprise to...
Polly J. Price, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law and Professor of Global Health, Emory University The next presidential term will commence exactly one year after the first confirmed U.S. case of COVID-19. The U.S. has since recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths and infections in the world. Because an estimated 90% of Americans remain vulnerable to infection, the next administration...
Heartening news from Alabama—Governor Kay Ivey ordered face coverings be worn in public, an emergency measure to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus there as the state reached a new record daily death toll. A recognition in the midst of a still unfolding disaster that face masks work. Short of shelter-in-place orders or further business closures, face masks are in fact the only thing that...
Ahead of the July 4 weekend, Chicago and Pennsylvania announced new travel quarantine measures for arrivals from 15 states, joining New York’s recent order aimed at travelers from states where out-of-control spread of the the coronavirus threatens other parts of the nation. NPR aired a thought-provoking segment just before the holiday period began, leading with “If you’re...
On the American Constitution Society blog, Patrick Diaz and I examine the question “in an emergency, can state or local governments require the general public to wear face coverings?”. The article concludes that the Supreme Court has—and lower courts should—entrust the politically accountable branches with protecting public health and safety.
This article on the Carnegie Corporation web site provides background on the book Plagues in the Nation. The article describes how I first studied public health issues, starting with the spread of the Ebola virus in the United States. The panic over Ebola led to missteps by political leaders, with several governors squabbling publicly with the federal government about who was in charge. Sound...
As I recently wrote in The Atlantic, during the 1918-19 pandemic flu, the Surgeon General of the U.S. could do little more than urge state and local governments to close schools and prohibit large gatherings. But then-U.S. Surgeon General Rupert Blue also urged Americans to make face masks and wear them in public. Newspapers printed instructions, and the American Red Cross produced thousands of...
See my comments of April 14 in the "Dallas Morning News".
See my comments of April 13th in the Christian Science Monitor article “Coronavirus hits rural America“.
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