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Apr 3, 2024

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Should Pandemic Response Requirements Be Controlled by The Federal Government? Harshini Agilan College of Public Health HAP 465: Integration of Professional Skills and Issues Dr. Virginia Blair March 3, 2024
Background Pandemic COVID-19 As long as a virus spread anywhere it is always a threat to people everywhere including us here by staying at home. Goelzhauser and Konisky (2020) stated that China alerted World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019, about a new coronavirus epidemic, first deducted in Wuhan. This was caused by the coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and named as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This epidemic was declared as pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020, due to its global spread and a national emergency was declared on March 13, 2020, by President Trump in US. Further they stated that governments have responded to this virus in different ways. The Federal government implemented international travel restrictions and closed land borders. Emergency legislation was passed by the Congress for purposes like individual payments, small business loans and corporate bailouts. The Federal Reserve provided billions of dollars to states and local governments, cut interest rates etc. State and local governments implemented stay-at-home- orders, closed non-essential businesses and schools, mandated paid sick leave etc. Khan et al. (2021) stated that COVID-19 is the third major outbreak of respiratory disease in the last twenty years related to coronavirus which has affected the socioeconomic balance of the entire world significantly. This disease first appeared in Wuhan in 2019 and then quickly spread all over the world infecting many people causing more deaths and it proved to be deadliest among all the previous outbreaks. Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (2022) reported that more than six and a half million people died worldwide and one million died in United States directly from COVID-19. This COVID-19 affected lives, livelihoods, unemployment levels, businesses and challenged many people for their basic necessities for almost three years. Cigler
(2021) stated that President Trump failed to accept his responsibility and failed to exercise his existing authority quickly and fully increased the problem of state/ local capacity and interjurisdictional competition which led to an excessive loss of life. He reported that Trump administration did not concern about the exponential growth of infection and downplayed the threat. Further, lack of early testing and federal governments strategy of letting states to lead the response have increased the spread. Birkland et al. (2021) stated that the previous presidents George W. Bush and Obama handled pandemics successfully. They even stated that Bush Administrations pandemic planning laid foundation for the Obama Administration response to 2009 H1N1 swine influenza. Further, they found that the responses of Bush and Obama Administration to the viruses clearly indicate that United States can prepare for and respond to any type of threats when there is commitment on the part of the leaders in the federal government to prepare and respond quickly during the early stage. Hence, it becomes very clear that failure of federal government during COVID-19 pandemic is not the federal government, it is the inability of the federal government under the Trump Administration to act decisively when it was required. Current Status Kincaid and Leckrone (2020) in Chapter 24 stated that the federal government by using its commerce powers can address interstate and international infectious diseases such as the federal government can require mask wearing on all federal government land and property and on interstate transportation systems though the federal government lacks authority to require mask wearing for everyone. President Joe Biden used this mandate immediately after his inauguration on January 20, 2021, whereas President Trump never issued such a mandate. President Joe Biden has authorized other forms of federal
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