The central story of the Covid-19 pandemic is one of health inequity. Black Americans have experienced higher rates and more severe cases than white Americans, and overall Covid-19 has been more prevalent among people of color. The roots of these inequities are not new; they lie in a long history of marginalization and disenfranchisement dating back centuries. Black Americans in particular live shorter, sicker lives than do white Americans.
While there has been much discussion of Black-white health disparities over recent decades, the solutions that are regularly proposed involve efforts to improve the health care system on its own. But this is not enough. The Biden administration can work toward rectifying fundamental health inequities by moving us toward Black reparations. Reparations can take many forms, ranging from ideas like baby bonds to cash transfers to adults, either of which would at least help to improve the current state of affairs. The Biden administration can, early in its tenure, establish a high-level commission to assess the best approach to implement Black reparations, to conduct return-on-investment analyses and to make the case to the country that we will not, in any foreseeable future, narrow health inequities without some form of Black reparations.
Creating a Healthier America—The Challenges and Opportunities for the Biden Administration | BU Today
Joe Biden will take the oath of office as the 46th president of the United States today amidst turmoil that is unprecedented in recent times. The number of challenges that face the country—and the new administration—right now are truly staggering. We continue to be living in the middle of a raging global pandemic that has now killed more than 370,000 Americans. The economy is still struggling to recover after the initial efforts to contain the pandemic precipitated a global recession, with the gains in employment slowing as the pandemic lingers. The country is reeling from the constitutional crisis precipitated by a mob takeover of the US Capitol, incited by President Trump himself, after months of falsely claiming the election was improperly stolen. And all of this is playing out against a backdrop of continuing, and deepening, inequities, with deep social and economic divides compounding centuries-old racism and anti-Blackness, brought vividly to life in civil protests during 2020 that may have involved more than 20 million Americans—making them the largest protests in US history.
On Yesterday's Events | Boston University School of Public Health
Dear colleagues,
Yesterday, we saw scenes of unprecedented violence and disorder in Washington, DC. For all the divisiveness of recent years, few of us could have imagined such chaos would reach the halls of government itself, as rioters breached the Capitol building, disrupting the functioning of government just as it was fulfilling a crucial task: counting the Electoral College votes confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. There is so very much to sadden and anger us about what happened yesterday, and it will take time for the country to move forward in a difficult time. As we grapple with this moment and what it means for our democracy, I have found myself reflecting on how it intersects with our work as a public health community and with our mission as a school.
A key lesson of these last five years—indeed, a lesson of history in general—is that divisiveness poses a threat to health. Our health is a product of the connections we share. Your health depends on my health, my health depends on yours. This has been a fundamental fact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has elevated the importance of these connections. We have navigated these challenging months by working towards a collective vision of health, supported by all and for the benefit of all. We have pursued this vision not only through our collective efforts to slow the spread of contagion, but also by engaging with the root causes of poor health—in particular, with the challenges of socioeconomic marginalization and racial injustice. When we turn away from collective engagement, when we embrace the divides which can too-easily characterize our worldview, we undermine our ability to approach health as a public good, sowing the seeds of marginalization, and creating a sicker society.
Eight Operational Suggestions for a Renewed CDC | Milbank Quarterly
Authored by Sandro Galea, Lawrence O. Gostin, Alan B. Cohen, and Nicole Lurie.
The arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines and of new Presidential leadership mark important turning points in the pandemic. President-elect Biden announced Rochelle Walensky, an infectious disease expert, as his nominee for CDC director, and policymakers are turning their attention to revitalizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the nation’s public health system at the state/tribal/local level. While a comprehensive blueprint for public health reform will take time, we outline eight key operational steps to revitalize the CDC. CDC’s renewal is imperative after a suboptimal performance during the pandemic, while also being politically undermined by the Trump administration.
SPH45: Welcoming our 45 Year | Boston University School of Public Health
Colleagues,
Happy New Year. I hope all had a safe and restful holiday, and that the new year brings with it renewed energy and hope for what we can accomplish in this year together. I am buoyed by the potential for public health to make a real difference in the lives of populations all years and especially this year.
This year is also special because it marks the School’s 45th Anniversary. In honor of this year, and the many years our community has served our shared mission, we have launched SPH45: Public Health. Now is the time. Every month, we will highlight a department, School-wide center, or strategic research direction. In this year of SPH45 and leading in an evolving and changing world, we have also updated our materials and programming. You will see a newly launched website, a refreshed design for all of our emails, and innovations in our Public Health Conversations.
Taking the Long View, After a Long Year | Boston University School of Public Health
This has been a difficult, unprecedented year. We have faced significant challenges—as a world, as a field, and as a school community. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the work of public health at the center of the national, and indeed, global, conversation. Recent political, social, and economic developments have all intersected with our core mission of working towards healthier populations by engaging with the broader forces that shape health, with special regard for the vulnerable and marginalized. It has been inspiring indeed to see how the SPH community has pursued this mission in the midst of challenge, working to strengthen the foundations of justice and equity on which a healthy society is based. As we enter the time of reflection the holidays can bring, some thoughts on what the pandemic has taught us about our approach to health, and how these lessons can inform a vision of a healthier future.
Taking the Long View on Covid-19 | Psychology Today
Overnight, the first Covid-19 vaccines in a Western country delivered outside a clinical trial were given to patients in the UK. Today, we can say, to paraphrase a former British Prime Minister, that we are at the beginning of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the months since the emergence of Covid-19, the world has been through some previously unimaginable changes. We have changed how we work, live, and play. Stay-at-home orders and guidance, and fear of the virus, have restricted where we can go and what we can do, the crisis seeming to stretch indefinitely. We are still very much in the thick of this challenge. Cases and deaths continue to rise and the indications are that this winter will be a hard one. However, as we end 2020, all signs suggest that this moment will, too, pass, that the time is coming when the Covid-19 pandemic will be a matter of historical record rather than daily struggle. The development of safe and effective vaccines and the efforts currently underway to widely distribute them mark a moment when we can finally say that the pandemic not only will not last forever, but that it will likely not even last until the end of summer. At the same time, the incoming Biden administration represents a chance for a political reset, an opportunity to navigate the end of the pandemic in a way that rejects counterproductive approaches and lays the foundations for a healthier world.
The Privilege Gap and Our Response to the COVID Pandemic | KCET
Authored by Sandro Galea and Nason Maani.
The COVID-19 pandemic has come to define 2020 around the world, and perhaps no more so than in the United States. At the time of writing, there have been over 12 million confirmed US COVID-19 cases and almost 260,000 deaths. In parallel, the likely health and equity costs of social distancing measures are in of themselves large and growing. One of the chief pressures facing leadership at local, state and national levels is the nature and timing of ramping up or easing social distancing measures, such as choosing when to open or close schools, for example.
These are not easy decisions for leaders to make. Each is fraught with uncertainty, resource implications and potential liability. Criticism and pressure come from a variety of sources, such as unions, parents, political opposition, trade associations and advocacy groups. And many of the challenges to the decisions that are being made around how to deal with COVID-19 — be they decisions to relax distancing measures or to expand them, to extend additional support measures or not — have been presented as being based on principle or on a pragmatic concern about risk of COVID-19. We acknowledge that it may well be that both principle and concern about risk are informing our collective decision-making. We suggest, however, that an unspoken factor that underlies many such deliberations is privilege.