Pandemics and Polarization

This book uses political science, public administration, and public health to examine infectious disease threats and political dysfunction putting Americans at risk. Failure to govern at the federal level affects essential public health activities at the state and local level, which the book states recommendations to address.

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Partisan divisions over policy in the U.S. Congress and rising disease threats put millions of Americans at risk. The Zika public health emergency is used to illustrate the key functions of coordination, providing countermeasures, and engaging in disease surveillance which the government must engage in during such an emergency. The author looks at how the standoff over Zika funding negatively affected the government’s response within federal agencies, as well as at the state and local level. Also examined in the book are serious threats still on the horizon that are expected to require strong government action in the future. Possible policies to avoid future gridlock are considered.