“The Pandemic and Democracy”
Produced at KSQD 90.7FM
Democracy is being challenged by a pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic challenges not only physicians, public health agencies, scientists and ordinary people, but also democracy. Never before has the US had to confront a virus that generated government behavioral edicts and required elected officials to have to interpret the unknown behavior of a disease-causing pathogen, the Corona Virus -19. News, information and recommendations now become known quickly with social media reaching the entire country overnight.
In past epidemics, the behavior of the causative agent or pathogen was known sufficiently for physicians to give generally agreed upon advice, even though often that advice was incorrect or had little or no effect on the disease. This time, with nothing known about this new virus, a quarantine was imposed by state governors and these decisions had an enormous impact on peoples’ daily lives. The public was asked or required to stay home and not go to school or work. The impact was quickly enormous economically hastening the stock market to crash and 20-million people were out of work. Public animosity towards the quarantine decisions and the shutdown of peoples’ lives has grown and became a political issue.
With scientists looking for a successful treatment or drug and with pharmaceutical companies all over the world searching for a vaccine to prevent the disease, there is now international involvement. Policy issues arose in this country and across the world. In the US there is a generally recognized divide between political parties that, until well into the pandemic, paralyzed the legislative process and provoked great confusion regarding what was the scientific basis used to implement or not implement the best scientific and medical advice. This political divide undermined public confidence in their elected leaders and made them suspicious of all medical and leadership directives or did it?
Interview Guest :
Peter Levin, ScD, is the former Dean of the School of Public Health for the State University of New York (SUNY) and the founding Dean of the College of Public Health, South Florida, Tampa. He was Dean and professor of Hospital Administration in the College of Public Health at Oklahoma University and was Assistant Professor of Yale’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
In addition, Dr. Levin was the Health Policy Counsel for Senator Connie Mack, Republican-FL. and Associate Commissioner of Health for Program Analysis and Planning at New York City’s Department of Health. More locally, Dr. Levin was Associate Vice President for Medical Affairs, at Stanford University Medical Center and Executive Director of Stanford University Hospital. Dr. Levin’s recognition and awards are numerous and his experience and credentials are extensive since his years of education at Yale, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins Universities.
Currently, Dr. Peter Levin is a Public Health Consultant residing in Carmel, CA and, to add one more item of note, he was a Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queens University, Canada.
