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COVID-19

The United States and South Korea

Preparedness

In this section, we investigate 4 critical questions when it comes to pandemic preparedness and response in the U.S.:

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  1. Why is it important to be prepared for epidemics?

  2. What causes an epidemic?

  3. How can an epidemic be prevented in the first place?

  4. How can a pandemic be prevented if an epidemic were to occur?

Response

Here, we delve into an analysis of how a nation's level of preparedness influences its ability to respond to an epidemic and of course, a pandemic. Our investigations use South Korea as a basis of comparison for the United States. 

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  1. What can you do?

  2. What should the private sector do?

  3. What should the government do?

 

Our Proposal

Click here to read the Health Systems Comparative Proposal for the United States. We outline what needs to be done in order to ensure the United States' ability to properly asses and respond to future pandemics. It is critical that we as U.S. residents urge for the prioritization of measures outlined in our proposal. This is a public call to action. Your vote matters.

Our Mission

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The Lancet is one of the oldest, best-known and highly respected medical journals in the world. On May 16th, 2020, The Lancet published an opinion editorial (op-ed) titled "Reviving the US" CDC in which the journal took a clear, targeted approach against the Trump Administration's response to Covid-19. This was an unprecedented move by The Lancet, for it is rare for medical journals to make such strong political statements, making the publication of this opinion editorial immensely significant. It highlights the manner in which this current political administration severely botched its response to a global pandemic, writing, "The Administration is obsessed with magic bullets—vaccines, new medicines, or a hope that the virus will simply disappear. But only a steadfast reliance on basic public health principles, like test, trace, and isolate, will see the emergency brought to an end, and this requires an effective national public health agency...Americans must put a president in the White House come January, 2021, who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics" [1].
 
Targeting specific policies that made the U.S. ill-equipped, the piece emphasizes the need for reviving the CDC and replacing the Trump Administration. The United States’ CDC, once seen as a world leader in infectious disease response, has now become something far from that. As mentioned in the quote above, it is clear that the United States lacks an effective national public health agency, and lacks any form of real public health infrastructure. It has failed its citizens on many fronts. 
 
As a health systems analysis think tank, this opinion piece published by The Lancet inspired us to mobilize and delve into an analysis of what consists of an effective response tactic by an effective public health agency. We aim to expand upon the concepts presented in the Lancet article by performing a systems analysis of the United States, using South Korea as a general basis of comparison to highlight issues in preparedness and response on the end of the United States. We also seek to expand the definition of preparedness as denoted by the CDC, including the need for a shift in cultural values that steer away from the highly individualistic nature in which the United States functions. We use South Korea as a basis of comparison, for this country was able to properly respond to Covid-19 with a centralized, national strategy. 
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Pandemics are inevitable, Covid-19 was not the first nor will it be the last. After viewing our site, we hope that you, whether you are a person of science or not, will have a more complete understanding of preparedness, response and our proposal for an effective pandemic response strategy. We hope you can take away from our comprehensive research what you can do to protect public health and what you should hold your government accountable for.
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[1] Reviving the US CDC. (2020, May 16). Retrieved May 16, 2020, from https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31140-5/fulltext
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Browsing Method

Welcome to our healthcare systems comparative analysis think tank! To help guide you through this analysis that will ultimately lead you to our proposal in regards to how the United States should have dealt with preparedness in order to better address the current global health crisis, COVID-19, and emerging threats, we have created a suggested browsing method. 

 

First, please read through our homepage to understand our motivation for creating this think tank. If you are interested in learning about the creators of this think tank, feel free to check out the ‘About’ tab before diving into our analysis. We suggest that you start by reading the ‘Preparedness’ tab in the order that the smaller sections are presented in the drop down menu: starting from the section, “Why is it important to be prepared?”, working through the sections, and ending at the section, “How can a pandemic be prevented?”. Then, examine the ‘Response’ tab in the order that the smaller sections are presented in the drop down menu beginning at “What can you do?”, working through the sections, and ending with “What should the government do?” After exploring all the questions under both ‘Preparedness’ and ‘Response’, please read ‘Our Proposal’! If you are interested, we have also supplied additional resources ranging from news, media, and additional ways you can help during this pandemic.

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