Abstract
How we share in the work of caring for one another during a pandemic is a common thread in the papers comprising this special feature. The collection itself represents another round of retrospection and forward thinking about ways to improve upon readiness and response for a catastrophic health event now that we have lived through the COVID-19 pandemic. Such was the theme, “Reimagining Preparedness in the Era of COVID-19,” around which the National Association of County and City Health Officials organized the 2023 annual Preparedness Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, and later elicited submissions to a special supplement of Health Security, of which these articles comprise a subset.1,2
The recent pandemic was a stark lesson in people's interdependence: The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged and, passing from human to human, then infected the world's population. As a species, we are linked together in a chain of transmissibility and vulnerability. 3 As Stripling and Pascoe 4 argue from an ethical framework, and as the other authors illustrate, pandemics also evidence another form of human interconnectivity: the relationships struck between people providing care and the people being cared for. Who bears the responsibility for taking care of others when adversity abounds and takes many forms—physical, emotional, social, and economic? Can the work of caring become less onerous, more valued, and equitably shared?
Some authors speak directly to the need for a larger, more diverse complement of responders. Marquez et al 5 argue that veterinary personnel belong in local preparedness and response planning, judging from their contributions to the COVID-19 response through surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in cats and dogs, zoonotic disease risk communication, and laboratory surge testing capacity. Cheng et al 6 call for community–university collaborations to help care for underserved communities, as with the Stanford Vax Crew who worked with community-based organizations, churches, and workplaces to provide both influenza and COVID-19 vaccines at free clinics. Limaye et al 7 recount the creation of a massive open online course to train the public in how they themselves can counteract misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy.
Other authors call out the need to care better for the caregivers. Ittefaq 8 relates the mental health toll exacted from public health communicators as they tried to deliver meaningful, up-to-date, and accurate information about COVID-19 in a context of acute public demand, uncertain science, profuse misinformation, and social media bullying. Koonin 9 outlines the need to engage private sector employers in the creation of safer workplaces through nonpunitive leave policies that would enable sick employees to stay home, directly protect coworkers and secondarily employees' dependents at home, and at the same time, assure business continuity. Limaye et al, 7 too, identifies parents as especially in need of communication aids regarding COVID-19 vaccines, given special concerns for the wellbeing of children getting vaccinations.
This special feature challenges readers to think more deeply about how humans can pull together more effectively and equitably, and with greater empathy, when pandemics strike.