Lessons Learned?
The New England Journal of Medicine recenty posted some food for thought in their Perspective column. It’s a two and one-half page read that offers an interesting perspective (pun not intended) on the climate in which the U.S. is after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Excerpt from Déjà Vu All Over Again — Refusing to Learn the Lessons of Covid-19
“A future pandemic — one caused by H5N1 or a different pathogen — could also arise in a far different legal environment than Covid-19 did. Over the past few years, many states have rushed to restrain health officials’ authority, thereby limiting their ability to respond to public health emergencies. Reflecting the widespread backlash against masking, for example, states such as Iowa and Tennessee have enacted laws prohibiting schools from requiring masking in most circumstances; other states have limited state or local health officials’ capacity to restrict religious gatherings or impose other types of public health orders. In some states, judicial decisions have also constricted the ability of state or local officials to respond to a pandemic. For example, in James v. Heinrich, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that local health officials lack the authority to close schools.”
SOURCE: NEJM
