Public health, pandemic response, and the 2020 US election

Abstract

From a health perspective, the upcoming US election could be the most consequential in our lifetimes. The USA has underperformed globally in its pandemic response but still has unparalleled resources and potential. There are, roughly, two choices for the 2020 candidates. Either they can deny the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, and both the immediate failures and structural forces that let it play out so disastrously in the USA, or they can accept that we need change and articulate a real plan for it. The USA can achieve global health excellence, but leadership is needed to guide the country away from counterproductive assumptions of US exceptionalism, recognising with humility where we fall short and where we have much to learn from countries that fare better in health outcomes, both before and in COVID times. We need to start rebuilding with a solid framework, one capable of sheltering every American individual's health and one that will stand strong through the next global health crisis.